So I’ve been missing an exorbitant amount of work lately, partially due to a vacation I’ve been planning for months and partly due to an unexpected health crisis. So while I’m technically on vacation right now, I’m literally running in and out of doctor’s offices and doing a number of positively not fun things. I got a phone call from my boss today, asking if I would like to permanently switch branch offices to a much more convenient location relative to my home. Boy would I! I let her know that I had some medical procedures coming up and would e-mail her regarding which days I would be requesting off work. I felt guilty for having to miss more work, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this girl needs answers about her health. My boss seemed distracted but otherwise it was a pleasant conversation and we hung up.
So once I had my ducks in a row, I sent her an email detailing the dates of said procedures in addition to a graduate school interview we had already discussed, and concluded by requesting the address of my new office and emphasizing how excited I was about the switch. Then I realized I’d made a scheduling error and sent a quick retraction so I could reschedule.
I got an immediate response:
My guilt kicks into overdrive. Oh my God, I think. She didn’t realize I would need more time off! I should never have just assumed! She thinks I’ve missed too much already and I’m a horrible person and maybe I misunderstood about the branch office switch and… gasp
I composed a lengthy, more detailed email laying out in explicit detail what I was requesting and why, apologizing for any misunderstandings and so forth. At this point I was bracing myself to provide links to citations about said medical procedures and why they required time off… (I have occasional anxiety issues and this health stuff, combined with my graduate school application stress has really kicked it into overdrive.) I was beginning to wonder if I had completely hallucinated our phone conversation.
I got another email:
:smack:
I’d sent three e-mails to the wrong S. The S who is my former boss and now good friend.
:smack::smack::smack:
I’ve maintained an e-mail account for years without managing to do something this stupid. Fortunately my friend S was more than gracious about the whole thing (she too, was wondering if she was losing her mind), and when I e-mailed my boss S, she not only approved the days off but she found my mistake hysterically funny.
This is the kind of thing that always happened to other people, and I laughed at them for their lack of awareness. Now I live among them in our Hall of Shame. Tell me about your e-mail mishaps.
