Team Tendo recently had a lunchtime conversation in which we recounted our biggest email and IM blunders. Some were personal, some were business-related, but none of them was as catastrophic as Spirit Airlines’ CEO Ben Baldanza’s recent email SNAFU.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere — something about how not to conduct business in the age of the Internet. Would this have happened 20 years ago? Not a chance. First of all, there was no email. Secondly, there were no bloggers to circulate this story. And thirdly there was no Web 2.0 (this numbering scheme has become problematic, but stay with me) to alert people like me (I found this story via reddit). In fact, the only parallel I can think of is the Legend of the Neiman-Marcus Cookie Recipe — and that’s an urban legend.
So, to quote Thumper’s mother, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. And if you absolutely have to be a jerk like Ben Baldanza, check the To line before you hit Send. —Ian Miller, managing editor
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Comment by Bertha Foley 11.12.08 @ 1:44 pmLeave a comment
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