Comments on: Email Hell

By: Britt

Britt — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:03:25 +0000

I also had an AA job where the boss would physically write up emails and have me type them out too!! I can’t believe there is more than one person in the world who does that. My former boss wrote them out though because he had NO IDEA how to even turn on a computer, let alone type and send an email. Absolutely ridiculous! I am so happy you don’t have to work there anymore!

By: Frau Blucher

Frau Blucher — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:29:59 +0000

Typo..’big’ warning sign. I wish we could edit our comments!

By: Frau Blucher

Frau Blucher — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:29:27 +0000

And these idiots wonder why no one works there for more than a few months. When you hear that from an employee or hear about how ‘hard it is to keep people’ that is a very bit warning sign.

By: Call 911

Call 911 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:50:33 +0000

Jeff – Are you kidding me? Why do people always fall back to that lame ass excuse? You’re right, I delete emails and have a differing opinion on the subject than you so I must therefore FAIL at my job…please. I was simply trying to point out the fact that it is a complete gray area that is very hard to enforce. Say she gave her two week notice and deleted her inbox over the first three days of those two weeks…whose to say those weren’t just typical “hey I’m getting rid of stuff I don’t need anymore” deletions (because she WAS leaving the company, she didn’t need them anymore) and “I’m intentionally destroying company product” deletions. Unless they provided her with specific instructions on it (such as an email retention policy, but even then those don’t PROHIBIT employees from deleting emails), they have no way of protecting themselves…not to mention any good business maintains backup tapes from their email server…and I’m highly doubting they emailed her their only copy of trade secrets that were lost in her mass email exodus.

Tronner – while I understand what you’re saying, I disagree. There is a HUGE difference between and email and a hard copy memo. Chances are, the memo being shredded is the only copy available, however with emails chances are that multiple people received it or it was backed up and able to be retrieved. She was doing what she though was right because she’d never been told different.

As for my flash drive of emails – you’re acting like they’re full of trade secrets and confidential information. Anything considered confidential by my agency is destroyed per their recommendations, certainly not saved or backed up in a private manner by myself (but it’s because THEY’VE made it clear what is confidential and what isn’t and have properly instructed us on how to destroy it). The things I’ve saved are basically email conversations between myself and another party (usually a supervisor) over personnel issues (but only those that somehow involve me), problems with 911 calls, 911 caller issues, etc. etc. Basically things that I would need to protect myself should a problem arise after I’ve left my dept. There’s nothing to stop people from bringing up problems 5 years after they’ve happened (especially since there’s no statute of limitations on this sort of thing) so it’s in MY best interest that I keep any and all things pertinent to these situations and I have every right to do so.

By: OP

OP — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:34:39 +0000

Ah, I see what you’re saying. That makes sense. I simply have used all of this as a learning tool… there is nothing more you can really do to try to make sense out of it all, LOL. I have lost enough sleep over that place trying to figure out their rhyme and reason for things so it is what it is. I have to say though, it has made the grass on the other side very lush and green. Often you hear the opposite of that, but in some twisted way, I am glad I went through that so I can really appreciate what I do and have now, you know?

By: tronner

tronner — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:26:02 +0000

OP – I think your past employers were obviously nuts. Since they apparently had NOTICE you were going to delete the emails, them saying you vandalized property is disingenuous. To re-use my shredder analogy from above, it would be like the soon to be ex-employee, with a giant stack of papers headed to the shredder saying “I’m about to shred this stuff, ok boss?” and have the boss say nothing only to get mad later on.

By: OP

OP — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:39:32 +0000

Okay – I spoke with two attorneys about them holding my check over this whole issue when I was dealing with it. Both attorneys said the company made a mistake by never educating me or letting me know that deleting was not allowed and that this was all grey area, but they can’t try to enforce something that was never there nor that I was ever made aware of. Furthermore, they can’t hold my pay from me since there was no documentation at all stating I agreed with that, etc.
I am not ‘whining’ or ‘huffing’ about it. I apologized and tried to offer help to find whatever it was they were looking for. (I even forwarded a great deal of communication to other people that day as requested of me). They instead wanted to say I had violated them and performed a criminal act. What I did was not criminal and I didn’t deny I did it. I made an honest mistake.
I thought my reasoning was good becuase I had everything about several members of that company except their social security numbers (but could easily get them if I needed them). The email could be accessed outside of the building on another computer so I figured if anything, I was HELPING them remove liability so that information couldn’t be accessed from outside their walls as I had entered the email system from my personal computer while employed.
Regardless, I will obviously now never do that again. I have learned from it. I didn’t want them to experience hardship, I wouldn’t jeopradize myself like that intentionally. I simply thought that they might accuse me of some form of identiy theft or something (should that happen) as I had extremely sensitive information at my disposal.

At one point, I even told the VP as well as D that I would be removing all emails from my system on my last day, during my two weeks, and they didn’t blink at that or question it.

I agree with the ‘tangible property policy’ that you are saying – I see your point on that, but I think it’s necessary to have electronic policies none the less to lay out a foundation of what is okay and what is not okay via any form of electronic correspondence. They had no policy, not even an employee handbook about anything in that office. Things just changed on a day to day basis on how things should be handled one day versus the next. I have worked at one office job before this and was actually advised to delete everything before the end of my last day there, so I thought this was a standard part of office electronic ettiquete.

By: tronner

tronner — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:34:35 +0000

Why is it so hard to understand that an email is just as much a piece of the company’s property as the keyboard you type it on? Deleting day to day emails as PART OF YOUR JOB is no different from shredding old memos or throwing away a used pen. You are employed and therefore entrusted with the ability to create and destroy company product. However, once you resign, and you are no longer allowed to dispose of company property, that deletion can be considered to be conversion or destruction of company property. Do you think it would be proper to see your ex-employee (or even soon-to-be-ex employee) standing over the shredder with a stack of papers in his or her hand?

Moreover, having an entire FLASH DRIVE full of said emails leave the building is a wonderful goldmine of intellectual property theft, identity theft (depending on what is in the emails), and is what sends the employment lawyers’ kids to private schools.

You don’t need a “tangible property policy” to tell you that you cannot steal the chair you sit in or the box of pens or reams of paper. If caught stealing a printer would you say “OMG, like I totally did nothing wrong because the company never told me I can’t take their property?” But when faced with deleted emails or files or other digital property, people simply whine and huff and post on message boards that they “didn’t know” their ignorant behavior was actually wrong.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:01:42 +0000

Call 911 – If you’re too stupid to understand the difference between deleting occasional emails on a daily basis and mass deleting everything in your e-mail account the day you walk out the door, I pray you don’t actually work in emergency dispatch where someone’s life could be in your hands.

By: Frau Blucher

Frau Blucher — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:09:16 +0000

these people are lunatics! I agree, I would have wanted to run out when that idiot threw the paper at me but I understand what it is to be broke, and figuring you can just put up with it…..congrats on getting out when you did. I hope you have done better since!