I just learned about e-mail goggles from Google which you can have click in late in the evening when, after a glass or two of wine, you  might be tempted to fire off that e-mail that you will regret in the cold light of day. It sounds like a good idea to me - but I am sure it might be a helpful addition to managing e-mail all of the time.

I am sure I am not alone in having sent an e-mail that, almost as soon as I pressed the send button, I realised that it was not what I meant to say or should have said. On particularly sticks in my mind. I was e-mailling a colleague about a project and mentioned the contribution of someone else working with us. It was absolutely not my intention but the way I worded it made is sound like I did not value what they had done. If she had been the only one on the send list that would have been fine but I had of course – you guessed – hit the “reply all” button. Arrrgh. I had the choice of doing nothing and waiting to see what response it got or getting my apology in early and I opted for the latter. I think I got away with it ..

And in my time I have been the recipient of e-mails that I am sure ( or  I really hope ) were sent in haste. When I was an international relocation  consultant I gave my clients’ employees a huge amount of leeway as relocating your family is a very stressful and emotional time for everyone. But sometimes I received what I could almost – to be melodramatic – could be considered an “assault”.

One guy seemed to have lost the plot completely in his e-mail accusing me of being responsible for his dog being quarantined ( it was the law…) and asking me how I felt about being a jailer! Another had been offered a promotion which would require him and his family to move to the US from the UK. As a favour to his employer and a gesture of goodwill a contact in the town he was moving to offered to drive him round to get an orientation before he made his final decision to move. On his return I found an e-mail i my inbox where – amongst other things he commented on the itellectual ability of the contact, that he had been “horrified” to be shown properties in areas in which he could not possibly ask his family to live, and I had insulted him by introducing me to someone who drove a beat up old car. I had no alternative but to forward this rant to his HR manager. That reminded me that doing someone a favour can sometimes backfire! I learned that he decided not to take the promotion. I guess his state of mind when he wrote me the e-mail told me that that would be the case!

Please share your stories ( if you can). Maybe there should be a blog comment goggles available too ( that would be the moderator then!).