The Pizzazzy

It’s so convenient that MS Outlook has given the reply all button and placed it so notoriously on the top. I dread using it so much, and thank God, so far I have not faced those typical reply all accidents.

It’s happened many times with lots of people, important mails are “replied all”, not because the content is important but the senders are at important positions in the organization. Imagine doing a ‘reply all’ to a mail which says “no increment this year ..” when you intended to do a forward to some friend from some other meaner organization to show how well yours is treating you. Additionally, if you have written something of the sorts before hitting the button. Most of these so called mishaps end with a laughter session or it might really have a lasting impact.

This kind of disaster can happen in any form. Let me tell you what happened with my friend once.
Last summer we received a mail inviting us to a sale of the world famous Alphonso in our office premises. It also gave a price list for potential buyers. 75 Rs for a dozen. I know it is difficult to get Alphonso in that price range but this one was held by an NGO.

My dear friend with whom I shared the cube was so excited with the mail, she forwarded the mail to her husband asking him if she should pick up a dozen.

Within a few minutes her desk phone rang and what continued was a series of “Oh, I am sorry, no no it was not intentional, sorry blah blah. No, it was for my husband. I am sorry.” I think this went on for some five minutes.

After she kept the phone she just sat staring blankly and shocked and when I asked her what happened, I was told that she replied to the mail that she intended to forward. I was shocked to hear who the caller was Oh God! The mail had come from our cultural club alias and had our VP listed on it. So…

I’ll precisely quote the contents of her mail

“What do u say? Should I pick up a dozen, and stupid I don’t have the money also even with all the changes I got some 20 bucks.”

For a long long time we had a good time recreating our VP’s reaction and analyzing his thought process after reading the mail. Which part hit him more was the big question. Was he angry on being addressed as stupid or the fact that our company was one of the lower paying software firms.

After much debate on the many theories we unanimously agreed that he took the STUPID part personally as he was the only person who reacted even though there were many other guys on the alias.