Details have never been my strong suit. Passion? Empathy? Hard conversations? Yes. Details? No. Being a person in a high stakes job who struggles with accuracy and pacing myself has resulted in some pretty dramatic episodes, especially at work. 

One of the earliest lessons in slowing down and checking my work happened in front of 3,000 co-workers. Yes, you read that number right. 

Lots of my mistakes have happened in a public arena, but this one lasted almost a week and contributed to permanent technology PTSD. 

My job at the time was to support employees at a large security software company. I was an HR Specialist which meant that I assisted with all the things people needed behind the scenes to do their jobs. One such task was adding new leaders to the management email distribution list. 

To do this I had to call the IT helpdesk and request that the person be added. During one such call I was asked exactly which list I meant. I pulled it up in my own email and read it off to the agent. As usual, I was in a hurry and behind on my other tasks. I hung up the phone and typed out a notice to the employee and their supervisor that they would now receive these communications. 

Even as I type this 28 years later my cheeks are flushing and I want to press pause on the replay. I clicked send and readied myself to attack the mountain of filing I had been avoiding for weeks. Immediately my inbox was flooded with “out of office” notifications. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

It seemed like half the company was telling me they were on vacation. Confusion gave way to horror as I realized I had left the entire distribution list in my email to the employee I added. My phone light lit up and started ringing. I panicked and considered running out of the building. On the fourth ring I answered, “Hi Becky”. 

My Chief Human Resources Officer whispered in disbelief: “Did you just email the entire North America region?” I didn’t answer because I was sobbing and wondering if she would fire me right then and there or if I had time to write a resignation letter. If only this was rock bottom in this nightmare. 

People began replying to “All” with helpful observations like, “I don’t think this was meant for me. My HR Specialist is Mona. Next, the reply all’s requested to be removed from this email list. These were followed by angry demands that people “STOP REPLYING TO ‘ALL’”. Eventually the server crashed and the emails stopped for a blissful 12 hours. 

When we were back online I got the final punch in the form of an email from the head of IT, ccing my entire reporting line. He complained that I had wasted valuable company resources and offered a link to remedial email training. He finished by sarcastically questioning how I had secured a job in a tech company.

What he didn’t know was that I was hired in the legal department a few years earlier without having ever been on the internet or sent an email. 

Jokes on him! I was devastated by this experience and convinced that I would never get over it. In fact, I did get over it and went on to have a successful career there for another 10 years. The fact of bouncing back after a major failure is what builds resilience in us even though it doesn’t usually feel that way in the moment. 

To this day my heart palpitates when I send a group email. I created a habit that has served me well (when I remember to use it). I have a sticky note on the side of my screen that says “WAIT”. Before I send an email of significance I ask someone I trust to edit it for accuracy, tone, and appropriateness for the audience. Usually, this person is my husband. Then he holds my hand or sits on the phone while I click send. Do you have a technology fail that still haunts you? A habit you developed to guard against repeating mistakes? Hit reply and share!