Fun with company wide email...

By Keith Campbell

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

I have known, and worked at, several IT departments who restricted employees from having access to a list serve email address that allow a user to broadcast an email to every employee. I can understand the reasoning behind this, but I have mixed feelings about such a policy. Employers tend to frown upon broadcast emails not pertinent to work. I am sure that you are excited to hear that Little Timmy is selling trash bags again for a very important cause, please stop by my desk and place your order.

I have also seen the embarrassment and humiliation that a co-worker has endured thanks to some inattentive typing in the "To" field that broadcast to the entire company her upcoming OB/GYN visit and some, er, ah, personal issues that were going to be addressed by said doctor. It seems that the doctor is going to need to…

Limiting who has access to list serves solves both of these issues but…

I have first hand experience with the frustration of trying to get an important mass email sent. I have been notified that cars that are parked in the south lot are going to be towed…

My current employer does not restrict access to email list serves for the company, but even if they did it wouldn't have saved a co-worker who would have access to the list serve who sent out the following message company wide today:

Everyone:

The Fire alarm is being worked on today. So if it goes off please disregard. Sorry for any incontinence.

Why does everyone need to be so judgmental? You poo a little after one fire alarm…

My friend may have said it best, "I know that fire alarms are scary, but if you know it is just a drill…"

I am against too many restrictions on employees. You need to trust people to do the right thing. Embarrassment or social pressure can effectively deal with list serve issues. We all need to be attentive to not only *who* we send a message to, but also *what* we say. With that said, I wonder if I am now tempting my email kismet.

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Posted by altheasus (Althea Schnacke) on March 12, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ooh, spell check strikes again. I know I've sent out incontinence when trying to spell inconvenient. I've also called someone "urine" by accident when I accidentally clicked on change instead of ignore when the spell check didn't recognize her name.

Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on March 12, 2008 at 9:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"You need to trust people to do the right thing."

AAAAAAHAHAhahahahahahaa....

I bout shit my pants. Sorry for the INCONTINENCE.

But anyway, does the fact that the word "drill" - even in approximate context - makes me nervous indicate some sort of latent desires?

"...the bell tolls for thee." forever will excite some underlying and muddled erotic confusion.

Thanks.

Fun with company wide email...

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