Carl is forwarding a letter to a colleague. “Hi John, look at these idiots. I told you they would reject my idea. I believe they reject it now but in two months they will come up with the same idea and will say it is theirs. These managers, who have never done this work, know nothing about it. I don’t even know why they are here. They are just wasting our time and the company’s money. And look at their argument ‘the results are not guaranteed’. When were any results guaranteed? Nothing is sure until it happens in our line of business. They know that. I know why they are rejecting my idea. It is because they don’t like it when someone else comes up with ideas. They don’t want to accept my idea because they feel stupid. I really hate them.” Carl rereads the mail. He knows John will like it and he will agree with him. They have been speaking about this and he knows he can trust John. He presses the send button. He receives an email almost immediately. It is from his boss. ‘We have to talk about this’ his boss writes. Carl reads on and can see his mail which he sent to John. Carl is shocked. Did John send the mail, Carl wrote only for him, to his boss? He checks his ‘Sent’ folder. Carl opens the mail he thinks he sent to John. He did not send it to John. He used the ‘Reply all’ button instead of ‘Forward’.
Originally posted 2020-06-25 21:58:00.