Don’t Yell In Email!
Written by: Tom Sawyer
“An Auckland accountant was sacked for sending “confrontational” emails with words in red, in bold and in capital letters.
Vicki Walker, who was a financial controller with ProCare Health, has been awarded $17,000 for unfair dismissal, and plans to lodge an appeal for further compensation.” (Lewis 2009)
Allegedly, this happened without warning. I guess a simple, “Would you stop using caps?” would have been too much right?
Number 10 on the email ettiquette list says, “IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Therefore, try not to send any email text in capitals.” Understood, but does that seem like it is enough cause to fire someone without warning?
The first question I would ask is how did other employees feel about Vicki Walker besides the emails she sent out. I would guess someone didn’t really care for her and this was the perfect reason to get rid of her. Or so they thought. There is a manager/supervisor that dropped the ball on this one and I would hold him/her responsible for the money the company had to pay in the judgement.
I don’t like to get yelled at like the next person, but aren’t there enough problems in the world without being sensitive to some capital letters?
Tags: email etiquette, fired for caps in email, vicki walker
September 10th, 2009 at 10:10 am
funny thing: I know people who write emails in all caps and don’t even know they are yelling. lol. They don’t know any better.
I agree. This does seem a little over the top.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:13 am
It is interesting how quickly people are prepared to leap to judgement with one side of a story and very few facts. I know someone who works there so took the trouble to find out. It seems the woman was a bully and many staff avoided having anything to do with her. Some were so upset with how she treated them that they threatened to leave. The Company offered all sorts of support and help to get her back on side with staff, which she refused. They even got in an Independant Mediator who was there for a week and trying to sort things out. When she left the staff had a celebration champagne breakfast the next morning. Apparently she was offered something similar to that to leave before she took them to the tribunal.
June 12th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Thats beautiful stuff you bought here. Had been searching for details on this all around. good blog
June 29th, 2011 at 9:01 am
This is the appropriate blog for anybody who wants to seek out out about this topic. You realize so much its nearly arduous to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years.Nice stuff, just nice
July 31st, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Don’t Yell In Email! | 7daybuzz.com Wonderful goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just too fantastic. I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you are saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read far more Don’t Yell In Email! | 7daybuzz.com again from you. Thanks For Share .