So my name is John Smith*, and my gmail address is johnsmith @ gmail.com**. However, I get the occasional e-mail from John Smyth’s friends and family. I usually do a pretty good job of forwarding his stuff to him when that happens - but he’s really bad at doing that for me. Anyway, the last few weeks I’ve been added to a few big distribution lists for him, apparently his college buddies who are all idiots.
I tried being polite:
Munch: Hey - this looks pretty important, you might want to double check that you spelled your friend’s name right.
Idiot: Uh, I’m pretty sure I know how to spell my best man’s name right!
I tried being funny:
Munch: With everyone spread around the country like that, 2 bachelor parties makes sense. But screw that shit. I, John Smith, will pay for every single person on this list that I know to fly to Vegas to do this shit in style. Oh wait - I don’t know anyone on this list. Guess we’ll go with Ryan’s idea - am I still invited?
Last Christmas, John was getting a lot of e-mails from his mother asking to see pictures of the baby. I could not convince that woman that she was spelling her own son’s name incorrectly. She just kept asking why, if I had time to respond to this e-mail, why couldn’t I just attach a picture?!? It took everything I had to not download a picture of the ugliest baby I could find on the internet and send it to her.
I don’t think it’s jerkish to respond. Is there a way you can bounce the email back to the sender so it shows as a failure to deliver? Or block the addresses once you communicate that it’s the incorrect recipient?
If you told John Smyth about it, and he hasn’t done anything about it then screw it, be fun and interesting. At an old corporate job I had a coworker in another state that went by my name because his was awful. Mine was Lou Who*, his was Mari-lou Who** and he apparently went by my name. I would get emails for him sometimes, and I’d let the sender know. But, one time I was bored and replied back about a query “Ah yes, I remember that day well. You were wearing the most hideous tie I’d ever seen in my LIFE! It was so mesmerizing I don’t remember a word of what you said. Oh and it’s also because I’m not Mari-Lou Who, this was all a misdirected email” Turns out later this was a VP of Purchasing! :smack: Then another time I had a Dorito vendor ask about how many pallets I wanted. I replied back I needed about 10,000 and to redirect two pallets to my home address “off the books” also stating at the end that I wasn’t the intended recipient and I was just pulling her leg. LOL’s all around.
I don’t think you’re jerkish, but you probably aren’t handling this in the best way to stop the emails coming - especially if you forward them on to the correct recipient, thereby reducing the need for the senders to fix their problem.
I get a similar thing at times, and I just reply:
My email is johnsmith @ gmail.com and I am not the person you intended to receive this email. I have had this email address for 5 years. Please stop sending me emails.
It’s always worked. I think the important thing is to be crystal clear that the email address they typed is yours. When you try to be helpful or funny, it just dilutes the message.
I have this same problem, except my “John Smyth’s” real email isn’t apparent. I have talked to his Mother and Sister about it, and they always apologize and then go right on sending me things. It is kind of fun in a way. It’s been going on for years and he’s apparently never caught on.
I don’t think you’re being a jerk - you’ve honestly tried to fix the problem and they aren’t listening. You might as well have fun with it.
I had it happen to me and the first 5 or 6 times, over two months, I just forwarded the email to the proper person and I told the sender that they sent the email to the wrong address and provided them with the proper one. The first time one of the yahoo’s, that I had previosuly told they had sent the email to the wrong address AND had provided them the right, sent me another one I decided screw everybody.
So I emailed the other guy and told him it is getting rediculous and since he knew this was happening he should have made sure everyone that was emailing him had the proper address and since I have started receiving more emails from people I had already corrected then obviously nobody really cares that their emails are not going to the proper address. Then I said that I would no longer be forwarding him the emails that get sent to me and I will no longer be telling the senders that they sent their email to the wrong address.
It took a couple of months and 7 or 8 emails later but they eventually stopped. A few of the ones were business related. One was asking questions about a vendor and one was about changing the date of a meeting. I wonder if he ever found out about those and if he got in trouble for not replying or missing the meeting.
I have this problem at work. There’s a guy there with the exact same name as mine. (first and last) Over the years we’ve both just resigned ourselves to forward the E-mails to each other.
It’s strange too because I’ve never met my virtual doppelganger.
I ended up on a mailing list for some child-related business in Australia. Apparently the woman who shares my name on the other side of the world used my hotmail address instead of hers. A couple of times, I responded with “You’ve reached the wrong Mary Sunshine” and I’ve gotten apologies back. I finally gave up and just started deleting them all or requesting to be taken off the mailing list if that was an option.
I’d try to be nice and fix the issue but if they don’t work with you to make sure that happens then fair game. If I’d had this exchange…
…I would probably work towards active sabotage. This is like the person who refuses to believe that they’ve dialed a wrong number and I’m all for giving them some aggravation in return.
I have a similar problem at work. I’m Jonathan Smith/Podunk/BusinessName*, he is Jonathan Smith/Bumfuck/BusinessName**, we’ve been getting each others emails for years. Now some new guy has come on the scene, Jon Smith/Jerkwater/BusinessName***, and he’s getting a ton of my mail, since his name comes up first when you search.
also stating at the end that I wasn’t the intended recipient and I was just pulling her leg. LOL’s all around.
