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I addressed someone with an inappropriate name and highly regret this decision
Last week, I accidentally emailed one of my colleagues and addressed him as Daddy. I don’t know why I did this. I must have just typed and kept going! And because “daddy” is an actual word, I wasn’t pinged with spellcheck or anything to realize it.
The last 4 meetings we’ve had together since, I want to block my face from the screen as I’m totally embarrassed still. For the record… his name is Dani...
Have you had any embarrassing encounters with colleagues lately?
Allix Stewart
Human Rights Graduate Student & Resume Developer
193
08/19/20 at 3:11AM UTC
Ha! I would also be embarrassed by this but think it could have been a lot worse - as we move more of our work and professional lives online it's bound to happen. Hang in there!
Chloe Nguyen
96
08/18/20 at 10:36PM UTC
Haha! It's probably not the first time it's happened to him, if that makes you feel better
Chris BarhamFull Time Professor/Strayer University
23
08/18/20 at 8:20PM UTC
That's definitely an oops! But it's not the end of the world; as others have said, just face it and apologize. Use humor if you want: Hey, I discovered I do my best proofreading after I send emails! Once that's done, I think you'll find that things will go smoother; in fact, you may be able to laugh about it together.
MJAccounting consultant
631
08/18/20 at 4:38PM UTC
Best thing is to let them know you just saw the typo and apologize and make light joking remark about it.
Anonymous
08/18/20 at 2:33PM UTC
I have emailed an entire distribution list of attending for a mandatory fire drill. The name name of the building is Koch but my phone auto corrected to "kock" so I told everyone that they had to sign up for the mandatory Kock drill. I died a little inside when I re-read it, and I would like to hope that everyone got a chuckle out of it.
Melissa NobileHandbell Choir Director
1.05k
08/18/20 at 1:58PM UTC
That sort of thing happens to everyone at least once! My daughter works in a male dominated industry and was speaking with an older gentleman contractor. He ended the call with “ok, love you, bye!” She laughed long and hard! She said he was obviously distracted by someone or something as the call ended.
We are sure the poor man wanted to crawl under a rock. Alas, he had to call her the following day and they had a great chuckle.
Tabitha AshuraSenior Manager, Strategic Initiatives
179
08/18/20 at 8:46PM UTC
Oh man I did this one while leaving a contractor a message. I was mortified. thankfully she responded with good humor.
Anonymous
08/18/20 at 1:43PM UTC
LOL its embarrassing, but its making it worse that you are not addressing the mistake. Lets flip the scene for a minute....say you received an email from a collogue that called you "baby" (maybe your name was barb (either way you see where I am going here). You would probably be a bit miffed....but that confusion would go on if it was not followed up by an explanation. THEN as a woman, you may feel as though you are being harrassed in the workplace, not taken seriously, sexism etc. I see responses (even on this board) daily from woman who feel they are not being taken seriously or have been told inappropriate things from men at work. Women have to respect men as well for this to work.
Immediately forward the email to him and explain this must have been an un caught typo, it was unintended and you apologize. Do this in email so its documented...This may sound overboard but I believe its necessary.
MorganAccountant
31
08/19/20 at 3:34AM UTC
I agree, he needs to know that it was just a typo and there was no intention to insult him or to flirt. Apologize by email and let him know it was just an embarrassing mistake.
Orlagh CostelloEngineering Manager for food manufacturing site
1.2k
08/18/20 at 12:27PM UTC
Could be worse. I once IM'd a member of my team (old enough to be my Dad) with "got a sec?" except it wasn't a "c" I typed..... (look at your keyboard.....)
We laughed about it thankfully!
Stephanie Ann HendersonAdministrative Professional, Project Coordinator
13
08/17/20 at 6:32PM UTC
HAHA! That's both hilarious and mortifying! I'm sorry that happened to you. But it's not nearly the worst thing that could have happened by any means... If it were me I'd just blame it on voice to text (which is a common cause of such errors) but I work off my phone often and have a relationship with my coworkers where we can be silly with each other and laugh at the absurdity
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