PICKERING – Receptionist Kelly Cook shocked coworkers last week after making an unfortunate typo in her email to bookkeeper Pedro Sanchez – she forgot the “r” in Pedro.
“I was rereading the email after I sent it, like I always do, when I spotted the error,” recounts Cook. “I was horrified! Especially since I had also accidentally left the caps lock on.”
Worse even, the email was in regards to Sanchez’ van – which happens to be large and white – that was blocking the building’s loading dock.
Cook shared that she tried to recall the email, but accidentally forwarded it to the entire company. “It’s been a disaster!” says Cook. “This is almost as bad as the time I typed Brain instead of Brian.”
“Um, it’s definitely worse than that,” says the company’s HR representative Joshua Gold. “And worse than the time she added a “P” in front of Rick’s name.”
Feedback from around the office has been mixed.
“I’m not sure why this keeps happening so often. It’s like she’s never used a computer before,” says software developer Helena Fink.
“Honestly? I think Pedro deserved it,” says self proclaimed office gossip Carter Frances. “He should never have grown that awful mustache!”
“I didn’t report it to HR at the time, but a few months ago she misspelled my name as ‘Turd.’ And my name is Franklin, so to be honest, that felt intentional,” says intern Franklin “Turd” Jennings.
One thing all employees have agreed on is that the HR follow-up to this incident – a series of team-building activities, sensitivity training, and anti-bullying workshops – has been considerably worse than the typo itself.
“I was hoping we’d get to do a cool team outing, like white water rafting or dinner at Milestones,” says Cook. “But instead it’s been non-stop potlucks, trust fall circles, and building little towers out of toothpicks and marshmallows. They even tried combining the last two, which led to a ton of injuries.”
Though reluctant to comment, even Sanchez agrees that the HR response has been sub par. “These so-called team-building activities are very childish,” says Sanchez, before quickly adding “And I want to be clear that I HATE childish things!”
Instead, in efforts to avoid future incidents, Sanchez has decided to start going by his middle name at the office. “It’s Lester,” he shares. “That should be totally foolproof, right?”
