There are some things in life that you can let pass you by, that irritate you slightly, make the hairs on the back of your neck start to tingle, but that you will let pass like pooh sticks in a stream, floating away over the horizon until you can’t see them anymore.
And then there are things that you simply cannot. Whether it is the girl on the train who has bagsied a seat for her bag, or the kid on the aeroplane kicking the back of your chair, it annoys you too much to simply let it go.
And mine is “reply all”.
There are instances where reply all is totally necessary, or else they wouldn’t have invented it, but there are times when an email comes round, and you want to grab the nearest stapler and start attaching bits of paper to your face to distract you from what you know will be a mass flurry of “reply alls”.
We have just become part of a much bigger company at work, and so “reply all” has far more of an issue now than it ever had before. Previously, an email would go round, the same people would respond, copying in all of us (mostly about their Playstation football league) and a mass sigh would go round the office, till one of them had the common sense to remove everyone who wasn’t relevant. Clever chaps.
Now however, the reply all is the bane of my life. We are being merged with a team of people who, in some cases, we have met once and in other cases, not at all. And names and faces are difficult when you are presented with well over one hundred people, so should we have met them, we probably would still be at a loss.
So when an email came round this week to “All (department specific)” it annoyed me. It was one of those emails about a leaver, an envelope and signing a card.
“Please come and put a pound in the envelope, he is a jolly good bloke and we want to give him an awesome send-off” read the email, or something to that end.
An hour later “As of yet there is nothing in the envelope, and as (we shall call him Paul) Paul is a good ole fellow (?!*) let’s give him a good send-off”
I looked at the guy I sit next to. “Do you know who Paul is?” “No” he replied. “Come to mention it, do you know who (let’s call him Ed) Ed who is sending the email is?” “No” he replied.
Fine.
I’d just like to point out at this juncture that we are currently still working in different offices, so even if we knew who Ed was, there was no way we could throw our contribution far enough for it to reach the envelope, on the other side of London.
This went on for three days. We received regular updates on the envelopes contents, how many signatures were on the card and what a ‘jolly ole fellow’ Paul was. People responded about times they had shared with Fun Guy Paul, and how the too encouraged people to reach into their pockets and go and sign the card, until it all became too much. I snapped.
I sent Ed an email.
“Hi Ed” it read “I don’t want to come across as at all rude, but please can you take us out of this “All” email? None of us have a clue who Paul is, and although I am sure he is, as you say, A JOLLY OLE FELLOW, we can’t really contribute, as none of us know who he is. Or who you are for that matter. Many thanks, Belle”
It’s hard making friends.
What drives you past rational sanity?
I agree, although there is the comedy value when someone MISTAKENLY hits reply all and makes themselves look stupid to the world…
We had one like that the other day where some girl was messaging her boyfriend and accidently coped everyone in. Hilarious
I presume you didn’t use the reply all in your response.
Go Get ‘Em Tinks!!!
Sounds like they need their eyeballs stapled to the envelope!!!
Love and hugs Laura!
Prenin.
Reply to all is a scary thing… The other day an email was sent out base-wide regarding brand new creepers for the mechanics… Since I knew the girl who sent the email, I replied to her saying “lol… You said creepers” *I’m super mature, I know…” Like 2 seconds after I hit sent I became paranoid that I might have clicked “reply to all” like, my heart seriously stopped for a second… Lol. Turns out I didn’t….thank goodness, I’m not sure the Colonel would “get” my humor…
Haha, good for you! I hate that stupid reply all too. At my old job, people would send an email saying so and so got promoted, and then a bunch of people would “reply all” to say congrats. HELLO…just email the person who frickin got promoted, not the whole frickin company! Ugh.
Lol!
Yep Tinkerbell that’s a justified rant.
Perhaps you should send a group mail mail asking those responsible, probably I.T. to create mail groups and teach the lazy ones to use it for their specific needs.
You’ll be sorry you asked…lol!
OK, the things I don’t like (aka pet hates) :-
People putting their shoes on seats in trains or buses.
People sitting on the back of benches and putting their shoes on the seats (where most people sit).
People who throw litter on the ground, especially when a bin is nearby.
People who don’t clean their dog crap up in public places.
People who jump queues.
People who lack a sense of humour.
I also hate it when my stuff gets used and is not put back where I left it..I really hate that…lol!
Those are the main ones..oh by the way, when you have the time, please feel free to pass by and share your thoughts on any (or all) of my Blog posts.
THANKyou. There is not enough taint-punch for Reply-all-ers.
I love it when I am in a reply all free for all and I don’t even know the sender! Yes that is sarcasm! I politely ask to be deleted from their list!
Most of my reply all friends have gotten the message. It can be helpful when organizing an event..
I learned the Reply All lesson the hard way. The VP of my former employee did NOT find my poop jokes at all funny
Event messages on facebook – that everyone who got invited to the event has to read. What is up with that? It’s bad enough you invited me to the event… which I won’t go to because I DONT EVER GO TO YOUR THINGS.
Now I have to read about how “awesome” and “full on” it will be.
Drives me mental.
and if you leave the group you look rude because it announces it to everyone, so you just have to bite your tongue!
As I start typing this, I’m afraid to come across as an old man, who, whenever he talks about his own, should always put ‘rational sanity’ in quotemarks. I get really annoyed when a new register opens up at the local supermarket. Everyone who was once waiting in line in orderly fashion, suddenly jumps up to be first to arrive at the fresh loot. People start jogging (because running would still be rude) and pretending to ignore each other, just so they won’t have to let them go first. The worst part about this is that nobody is going anywhere afterwards. Grocery shopping was the thing they were doing anyway! If you have a bus to catch, dear madam, you wouldn’t be stacking up on your weekly food supplies, now would you? Also, now that I’m in snobby mode, you might want to trade your diet soda for veggies, if it was healthy you were going for. No please, you go first. Evidently, you get your satisfaction in life from being first in line. I would never take that from you.
Ha! That kind of stuff drives me bonkers, too. And when people sell stuff for their kids’ schools – I’m cool if they want to put the sign-up sheet in the break room, but when they start sending emails and coming around, it gets out of hand.
Then again, I work with 8 billion (maybe slightly less) people, so if I contributed to everything, I might as well tell them to just keep my paychecks and work for free.
You had the perfect response and now and then when someone says oops I didn’t mean to send to all I don’t buy it. Maybe they ‘shouldn’t’ have sent it but somewhere deep down they certainly intended to.
Hahahaha. You’re awesome!
Thanks love, people seriously don’t tell me that enough
hahah
I’ll make it a point to stop in every so often just so say so, then.
That is truly one of the annoying things in life. Not just the “Reply All” but the email itself, surfing for gifts. Almost as bad as asking for them outright, “Will you buy me something?” which in my upbringing has always been considered rude.
I suggest a bottle of wine, like they use to send off ships. Swinging from a rope to see if you can land it upside the head. There’s a send off that won’t soon be forgotten. LOL!