A part of my job is retrieving and responding to the emails that come through our organization’s website. It’s a total mixed bag of questions, compliments, complaints, requests for free stuff, etc. Yesterday one caught my eye. The subject read “Thanks for ruining families.” The email was from the relative of a current employee who ranted about the number of hours their family member was working, their manager, describing the organization as a whole as “soul sucking.”
Wow. This person was foolish enough to use their work email address, so it took me all of 10 seconds with Google to learn his name and his place of employment. Another 15 seconds and I found his LinkedIn profile, learning where he had gone to college, where he had worked previously, and what his career goals were. Another 10 seconds and I had his Facebook page opened, which has less than stellar security settings in place. Within 35 seconds of opening this email, I knew exactly which employee’s spouse had unleashed his fury in an “anonymous” email.
I don’t intend to do anything with the email. I hope he felt better having just written it. Just wish he would have thought twice before hitting the send button!