Email can be a very dangerous thing, and in today’s world email is used for many communications. The following was sent to me in an email – and whether true or not, you can envision it happening.
A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.
Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.
The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband’s funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack.
The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.
The widow’s son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I’ve Arrived
Date: October 16, 2009
I know you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in.
I’ve seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.
P. S. Sure is hot down here!
Not so long ago I committed an email faux pas, but not as amusing as the tale told above. Instead, I hit reply and sent an email back to the sender with a rather cryptic message. Of course, I didn’t realize my error until I’d hit the send button and saw it’d gone to a different person than I had intended. I about gagged on my Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie, and quickly sent a second email explaining the first.
A few hours later I received an email filled with wonderment and a little annoyance. A few days later, over two cups of great hot chocolate, I was able to explain myself in person, which is still perhaps the best way to communicate. In person, you can hear the speaker’s tone and inflections, read their verbal and non-verbal cues, and ask questions immediately to make sure everyone is on the same page.
I learned several lessons from all of this: 1. Rethink hitting reply. Perhaps it’s best to just compose a new email to the person with whom you want to communicate. 2. Write every correspondence as if others might read it. Carrying on a running conversation, as I was doing, has great potential to be misconstrued when read by the wrong set of eyes because the message alone is out of context. 3. When there is a miscommunication, meeting face to face should be the preferred choice. Words are impossible to take back, and when in written form and out of context, with no non-verbal cues to help the receiver interpret the message, it’s easy to dig a pretty big hole. Having the opportunity to explain can’t take the words back, but does allow the other person to see what your intent actually was, and both can walk away feeling better.
And last but not least, have an understanding nature if you’re the receiver of a mis-addressed email. The widow in Houston will not have the advantage of an explanation – luckily, I did.
