posted at 09:58:30
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Email

There's a lot of talk at the moment about Barack Obama having to ditch his Blackberry (read the full article "Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? If Obama Has to, Yes He Can" at the New York Times site) when he becomes President and I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

Having recently sat down to dinner with someone who had "Blackberry Twitch" - you know the sort, the Blackberry's in their pocket and they're itching to look at it but know it'd be considered rude so they develop a nervous tick - and also been to dinner with someone who checked emails whilst they ate (excuse me?) surely it's better to have a focused, non-Blackberry twitching President? I mean, can you imagine him sitting in the Oval office talking to some official whilst browsing his emails? Me neither.

It's probably for the best when you consider that the current administration has potentially lost 5 million (yes, five million) emails - some of which may contain dodgy dealings of White House Staffers:

I wouldn't rule out that there were a potential 5 million e-mails lost," Perino told reporters.

The administration was already facing sharp questions about whether top presidential advisers including Karl Rove improperly used Republican National Committee e-mail that the White House ....

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Sep

16th
2008

How not to use email at work: Sexist chap wants female skivvy. Er.. I mean flatmate

posted at 15:00:00
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Email

I've written before about the need to be careful about what you send in an email at work but the story that I've seen in several UK national newspapers over the past couple of days really takes the biscuit.

Paul Eley sent what sounds like a harmless email around his workplace asking for a new flatmate. Nothing wrong with that in itself - until you realise that he only sent it to female colleagues and that the content of the email was, shall we say, inappropriate at best:

Hi Everyone

I am looking for a new flatmate as my old one has now left. Could you pass this on to anyone you might think would be interested.

I don't need any rent from any potential flatmate, so it will be rent free. The only thing they would pay for is their own food.

I am looking for a girl flatmate between 18 years old and 26 years old. Preferably someone who is very tidy and reasonable nice to look at.

Instead of paying rent I would expect them to do the following.

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