We’ve all done it — sent an email to people we didn’t intend to send it to. There’s nothing quite like that sinking feeling just after you hit “send” and realize you’ve definitely copied in the wrong people. Despite being told time and again to always, always, always check the to, cc, and bcc fields, it’s a very common occurrence. Mind you, we bet your email catastrophe wasn’t as bad as some of these zingers.

Uber Getting Sued by Google For Allegedly Stealing Their Technology

 

The automated, self-driving car market has been getting a lot of attention recently. Uber probably didn’t want the kind of attention they got from Google though. Apparently an email was sent to Google by mistake copying in some plans for a laser detection system. Only problem? The design was allegedly stolen from Google when an engineer left and joined Uber. That’s likely to be a very costly mistake.

 

HR Sending Salary Details of Everyone, to Everyone…

 

How about if you got an email from HR with an Excel file attached that had the title “Salary Details — All Staff.” And then, five minutes later, get a panicked email from HR asking everyone to just delete the first email without opening the attachment. Would you? Nope, us neither.

 

Describing the Client in… Less than Flattering Terms…

 

It’s never a good idea to get angry, send an email in haste to an employee, and then ask the employee to forward the email to the client. Especially when the words “send this (attachment) to that stupid ******* idiot (client).” are in the email and your employee doesn’t remove them before forwarding the email onwards.

 

Making Identity Theft Easy

 

We’re all really security conscious, right? We’re all concerned about identity theft and how to protect ourselves? Pity, then, the poor man who did a “reply all” with a file attached that included the social security number of his whole family, his income, wife’s income, etc.

 

Getting Advice on How to Fire Someone… And Accidentally CCing Them In

 

HR are probably some of the worst culprits for “Oh No!” moments when it comes to email. Here’s a gem, “My manager had to fire someone. The manager was pretty young, and it’s the first time he ever had to do this. He sends an email to HR for assistance and direction as to how to go about firing this person.

Well, the issue became moot when he accidentally CC’d the guy who was going to be fired. We were able to actually see the moment that guy got the email…”

 

Saving Money for Your School, In All the Wrong Ways

 

When you want to save money on your school budget, there are good ways… And then there are bad ways, “Our school district sent out an email asking for ideas of ways to save money. A person replied to all with the names/positions of the people she thought were expendable and why.”

 

So, Will My Employee Benefits Help With My Baldness?

 

This one speaks for itself, “I was a temp in a very large law firm for a bit. One day a new lawyer was hired, and HR sent out the standard email to everyone introducing the new guy and congratulating him on his new position. New guy then replies all and asks the HR person if his benefits package pays for a hair transplant procedure.”

As always, the lesson here is never use, “reply all” and always double-check the to, cc, and bcc recipients. A little hesitation could save a lot of embarrassment!