A woman in Auckland, New Zealand, was fired last year - and later awarded financial damages for that firing - for sending what her bosses deemed to be a confrontational email at work.
Her crime? Using all caps, red lettering, and bold font.
THAT'S RIGHT, RED AND BOLD!!!!
I get the notion that all caps can be construed as yelling. I once had a friend tell me to stop screaming at her during a heated email exchange. I didn't know what she was talking about till she pointed out that I was typing in all caps. When I thought about it, it made sense. I was in all caps 'cause I was angry and trying to fortify my point. And I guess the red is a little weird, but I've received bold, red-lettered bulk emails at work from management types who wanted to make sure that employees actually read the notice and didn't dismiss and delete it right away.
It seems to me "confrontational" should be determined by the language and tone used in her emails.
It probably cost her former employer more to pay the $17,500 judgment over her firing, than to just tell her to stop w/the bold, red emails in the first place.
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Heh, I used to responsd with red, dark red, sometimes bolded, never in caps. It was eaiser for me to read than the auto blue.
I now use black and I only bold when I really want to make my point. Like" We sent you your paper work *Three Weeks Ago* as a pdf. Please sign and return it *ASAP*."
Posted by: Kaylia | September 01, 2009 at 01:25 PM
Good thing she didn't write in italics; they probably would have called the police...
Posted by: BobG | September 01, 2009 at 05:53 PM
of course she was sacked for writing in red; new zealand is an "All Black" country, my country. go the ABs!!!
Posted by: insomniac | September 01, 2009 at 11:20 PM