How a complete stranger read my email
Have you ever heard the Steven Wright comedy bit that goes something like this:
I moved into a house that had one of those light switches that didn't appear to do anything. Every once in a while I would walk by it and flip the switch on and off. 6 months after moving in, I got a letter from a guy in China saying "Cut it out."
I had a very similar moment earlier this week.
When Reply to All goes bad
An email was distributed to my entire family with a typo in my sister's email address. In some circumstances this isn't a big deal but it is when the email address in question is a Gmail address.
You see there are a zillion combinations of Gmail user names already in use. So odds are if you make a typo in someone's Gmail address, it won't bounce back to you as undeliverable. Rather, it will just get delivered to the person who owns the email address as you typed it.
So in the case of the email I referred to above, some complete stranger got an email that was meant for my family only. And to make matters worse, the email had content asking each of us to reply so as each member of my family hit "Reply to All", the stranger got yet another email.
Can't stop the email train
And I challenge you to try to stop this train once it leaves the station. Being a techie, I immediately noticed the typo and replied to all with notification that my sister's email address was incorrect. But before I sent the email, I corrected my sister's address as to not perpetuate the problem.
It didn't matter. People still replied all to the original email and not my reply and each time, some stranger got another email and another update on my family.
I'm still waiting for an email from a guy in China saying "Cut it out."
If you enjoy dry humor and want some more of Steven Wright, check out this vintage video of Steven Wright on YouTube.
5 comments for this blog post so far...
March 09, 2010 at 6:36 am
Lorraine Ball
A few years ago, my husband did something similar, when he sent an announcment for a neighborhood clean up and tree planting day. The email he recieved in reply was from a woman in Ireland who explained she loved trees, but it was too long a commute to come by for the event.
Andy offered to by her dinner if she ever made the trip, and we enjoyed meeting her, when she came to Indy for a Forumula One race a few years later.
March 09, 2010 at 8:32 am
Patric Welch
Lorraine - That’s a great story!! I can’t believe you ended up meeting the woman in person, all the way from Ireland.
March 09, 2010 at 8:53 am
Rosey
Did the person who owned the typo addy contact you to let you know?!?!?! LOLOLOL
At least you caught your mistake, and got the intended e-mail to your sister.
Years ago, my friend’s daughter sent me an e-mail (e-mail was pretty new in popularity), and I replied typing her name in the “To” box (like I said, e-mail was just catching on so I was a noobie...newbie), and the computer picked up our VP’s name (his last name is the same as her first name), and sent it. Remember, this is to a kid, so I sent an e-mail to the VP saying, “Dear Haley Bailey, I think you are dynamite!!!” and I included a large clip art picture of dynamite sticks. The same day the email went out, the VP made a trip down to our area to meet me (I was a new employee, to boot). It’s funny now, but at the time I didn’t think it was such a chuckle. ;o)
March 09, 2010 at 8:55 am
Patric Welch
Rosey - I can picture that email perfectly. Hope your VP got a bang out of it!
March 09, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Jennifer - Eighty MPH Mom
LOL - that is too funny. I’m sure at the time it wasn’t. I once sent a VERY personal email to a Cheryl (a friend), but I sent to fast and it went to my husband’s bosses secretary (she ordered Avon from me). Talk about embarrassing!
Add A Comment
Need help leaving a comment?
Just fill out your name, email address (for our eyes only) and web site address (if you have one, this is optional) above. Next, type your comment in the comment box. Feel free to use the Enter key to leave spaces between paragraphs.
The last step before submitting your comment is to enter the CAPTCHA word. This is the funny little series of letters and numbers you see below the comment field that helps prevent comment spam and ensures your comment can be seen on the web site immediately after you submit it.
The last step is to click the "Submit Your Comment" button. Thank you for commenting.