Is there anything that can get us in trouble in ministry more than email?
I think half of the conflicts I've been involved in in the last 8 years of professional ministry can be traced back to email. From typos, to misunderstandings, to copying the wrong person ... Email is just a trip.
Just this morning our youth pastor asked me to send out a quick email to our choirs to plug a youth fundraiser dinner coming up this weekend. No big deal, right?
I send out the harmless thing, and then I start getting the bounces, from an email address of one choir member who's email I know is incorrect. I get 15 bounces. Then I get an email from my assistant:
Any email bloopers you would like to share with the world?
I think half of the conflicts I've been involved in in the last 8 years of professional ministry can be traced back to email. From typos, to misunderstandings, to copying the wrong person ... Email is just a trip.
Just this morning our youth pastor asked me to send out a quick email to our choirs to plug a youth fundraiser dinner coming up this weekend. No big deal, right?
I send out the harmless thing, and then I start getting the bounces, from an email address of one choir member who's email I know is incorrect. I get 15 bounces. Then I get an email from my assistant:
I don't know if you are aware, but you just sent 14 concurrent emails with the same text.
Awesome. I check my Outlook, and the darn emal is still sending, 30 minutes later. I scramble and cancel the thing ... Which is no easy task, frequently met with an "I'm busy doing important things" look from my Outlook. And while that's going, 5 more bounces. While I've been typing this, there has also been at least 3 more bounces.
Good times, right? I hastily write an apology email to all concerned and press the send button.
I pray.
It only sends once. Bounce total: 27 emails sent.
I thankfully get no angy emails in return, but I did recieve this gem of hilarity from a choir member's husband:
There are good people at this church.Those were great emails. It took all of them for me to decide what to do. Then it finally dawned on me that I had purchased the tickets and [my wife] had already made my decision. So-I deleted all 27 emails. HaNo Big Deal![husband]
Any email bloopers you would like to share with the world?