The BBC cancelled a prime-time interview with Boris Johnson after the presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes “in a message meant for my team”.
We asked readers for their stories of work message gaffes, and it turns out this is a common mistake. Here are some of the responses.
‘I still cringe thinking about it’
This happened some years ago but I still cringe thinking about it. I was an administrator working for a law firm and we had a lawyer who was super-friendly with all the caseworkers. One afternoon as we were getting the files ready for court the next day, a caseworker started flirting with him and sat on his lap. I was slightly bemused by this, and since it was before the days of WhatsApp, I pinged an email to my fellow administrator and friend, in full caps lock: “WHY IS SHE SITTING ON HIS LAP, WHAT IS THIS?!!!” Of course, I sent the message to the lawyer instead of my friend, and of course, frantically trying to recall the message was futile. He had read it – and while the caseworker was still in his presence! Red-faced and embarrassed, I avoided the lawyer for many, many months. We never spoke about it. Sara*, Hertfordshire
‘Needless to say, the dispute was lost’
During a difficult tax dispute on a complex interpretation of the law, involving millions of pounds, a colleague asked for advice from specialist experts on whether they should continue fighting. A reply was given, explaining that the dispute should be pursued unless the other party wanted to push for a court hearing. The advice was: “If pushed, you’ll need to back down.” Unfortunately, this advice was sent to the other party in the dispute. A few days later, a message came back: “Please consider yourself pushed.” Needless to say, the dispute was lost. James, Cheshire
‘I told my boss he looked like Gregg Wallace’
A new head of department arrived at a previous job of mine who had a startling resemblance to MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace. I remarked upon this to a colleague on Slack, but of course I sent it to a group chat featuring this colleague by mistake. Fortunately, my wording was purely observational in tone, not overtly mean, but his simple “🙂” response had me shrinking into my chair. I’m pretty sure he’d been told this numerous times in his previous job and was generally an easygoing guy – and a good boss – so the damage to our professional relationship was minimal, thankfully. Ollie, Berlin
‘I emailed a report on my dog’s diabetes’
In my keenness to let my husband know the vet’s report on our dog’s diabetes, I managed to email my boss: “Good news, Dermot’s urine is clear. Hurray!” While I imagine he was moderately pleased to hear this, he did say: “I don’t think you meant to send me that!” Anna, Bradford-on-Avon
‘I sent a redundancy briefing note to the impacted employee’
I used to work as an HR manager. After drafting a redundancy briefing note for a manager concerning an individual redundancy, I inadvertently sent the note to the impacted employee. I quickly rushed down to where the employee was sitting and considered trying to delete the email from her laptop, but unfortunately she’d read it already. I said: “Sorry, that wasn’t meant for you,” and walked away. To this day I still cringe when I think of this incident. For the rest of my career, I never sent a sensitive email without checking the addresses at least twice, if not more on some occasions. Iain, West Sussex
‘I quit a few months on’
I was emailing back and forth with a co-worker who worked in the same room to gossip about our boss, whose office was right next door. In a moment of absent-mindedness I emailed my boss, complaining about how she had spent hours shopping for clothes over her lunch break. A couple of minutes passed and I asked my co-worker if she’d read my message and realised I’d sent it to the wrong person. I still burn with shame at the thought of it, 20 years on. I went into my boss’s office to tell her I’d sent it accidentally. She admitted to having a problem, but I never forgave myself. I quit a few months on. Lydia*, Connecticut, USA
*Some names have been changed.
