Help with an email mistake!!!

Question

My friend mistakenly sent an email bad mouthing a co-worker to the co-worker!!!! He apologized for it and it was accepted but he just feels terrible about it. What would you tell him to do?

Answer 1

Thats terrible, but whats done is done. No point in him getting all upset about something that sounds like it was resolved.

Answer 2

I would tell him he has to learn from his mistakes.

Hopefully, in the future there will be a natural opportunity to make fun of himself in front of the co-worker, showing them he knows he's not perfect.  Then they'll be even.

Answer 3

Yeah..let's not bad mouth co-workers via email..

And I'm pretty sure your friend feels terrible about getting caught bad mouthing someone, not the act of bad mouthing itself, if not, he wouldn't have done it in the first place. My advice would be to leave it be, there's really nothing your friend can say or do to the co-worker that would help, besides apologize for his childish behavior. Just be civil to the co-worker and don't be overly nice to them all of a sudden, that would be so obviously fake. Way to create an awkward situation at work! :)

Answer 4

I would tell him to make sure he doesn't use email to send sensitive, personal information - but I'm sure he's learnt that from this unfortunate incident. In the future, I'm sure he won't put anything like that in writing again. Besides, if he has a problem with a coworker, why not deal with the coworker head-on, rather than behind his back? Old enough to work is old enough to be mature about an issue.

Best Regards,

Holly

Answer 5

I would tell him to keep this one thing in mind before hitting the send button:

"Is this something I wouldn't mind seeing up on a billboard with my name attached to it?"

If the answer is no, then it shouldn't be sent.

Many friendships and business deals have gone down the drain because of mistakenly sent emails. Your friend needs to accept that he made a mistake and try not to do it again. And he needs to realize that the co-worker is likely never going to trust him now that he had made his feelings known. That's a natural response and there isn't much your friend can do that. Once trust is broken, it's very hard to get it back.

Hope this is helpful.