How One E-mail Almost Ruined My Severance Package And My Life

Sometimes an experience is so painful it's helpful to try and forget it ever happened. But something recently transpired that has allowed me to relive my anxiety with all of you. It has to do with a severance package.

This post is an important reminder about the dangers of written communication. Always be careful with what you write and send online if your job or severance package depends on it.

One E-mail Almost Ruined My Severance Package

In early 2012, after months of negotiating a severance from a day job I had held for 11 years, I almost screwed myself out of absolute freedom due to one damn email.

As part of my exit instructions, I was told not to transfer any proprietary work information to my personal accounts. This made sense because taking what didn't belong to me would be considered theft.

Every company's worst nightmare is having an employee copy sensitive information that can be used against them at a competitor or made public. The second company's worst nightmare is when a disgruntled employee badmouths a firm to the press or over social media. This second reason is why negotiating a severance is more possible than you think.

My situation was different.

Part of my severance negotiation strategy of keeping all my deferred compensation, receiving a lump sum severance, and getting six months of fully paid healthcare was predicated on me promising my firm I would NOT join a competitor. They couldn't enforce this promise, but it was my intention to permanently leave the industry.

Convincing my employer I wasn't joining a competitor was the only way I could stay on for two months after we agreed I would be laid off.

I wanted to stay on for two months to help ensure there would be a smooth transition. I also thought it'd be nice to collect two more months of pay and benefits without any work performance stress.

When you know the end is near, you try and hold on for as long as possible because change is scary. 

The E-mail Snafu That Always Killed My Severance

After working at one place for so long, my work e-mail essentially became partly my personal e-mail. It was just easier corresponding to non-work people while I sat in front of a computer for hours a day instead of trying to type personal responses on a clunky mobile phone. Back then, iPhones and Android phones weren't as popular.

Anyway, during my last week of work, I started mass e-mailing dozens of old documents to my private e-mail account. I knew the company was monitoring my activities so I quickly screened each e-mail and the attachments before I pressed send.

Sample documents I sent to myself included random things like a bathroom remodeling contract from 2007, pictures of me and clients visiting the Taj Mahal in 2003, years worth of tax documents, team pictures, refinance documents and more.

Each e-mail had 10-20 attachments because I was basically mass copying all these documents I had archived on my computer since 2001.

E-mailed Sensitive Information

Unfortunately, there was one email that contained client revenue information that I wasn't supposed to send! It somehow slipped through the cracks, probably because the name of the Excel file was some generic name that belied its true contents.

I didn't even realize I had sent this document until HR called me the night before my last day telling me what I had done. They said they would be reviewing my activity and getting back to me with a resolution. 

Oh shit! Did I just screw myself out of a severance package worth six years of living expenses because of one inadvertent attachment? I started feeling deep regret for not taking the guaranteed pay package another firm offered me two years prior.

I quickly reviewed all the e-mails I had sent back to my personal account and found the document. It was indeed an Excel file containing revenue figures broken out by client. Drat! How could I have been so careless as to include this document I did not need?

An Honest Mistake

The client revenue document was now evidence from their perspective that perhaps I was joining a competitor after all. But as I looked more closely at the document, I quickly realized the revenue figures were from five years prior.

In other words, the data was practically useless because clients come and go and our business model was all about how we could improve upon last year's numbers.

I proceeded to write a mea culpa e-mail to HR highlighting the document transfer was inadvertent. I told her that I had no need for a five year old document with stale revenue information.

Finally, I reemphasized my desire to get out of the business for good. She acknowledged receipt and told me she'd get back to me.

Related: Why Negotiating A Severance Is Possible: Absolute Reputational Destruction

The Torturous Waiting Game To Hear If I Would Get My Severance

I showed up to work the next day, a Friday morning like always, but was unceremoniously denied access to my desk due to HR's continued investigation of my e-mails. What was supposed to be a bittersweet good-bye, turned out to be a lonely time of anxiety, frustration, and worry.

My manager had flown out from NYC to try and ensure the transition went smoothly. He wasn't someone I looked up to partly because we both had the same title, but he was about seven years older. I respected him as an equal, but not as my superior.

My manager was the one who greeted me at the lobby that morning and barred me from going back to the seat I had sat in for 11 years. It was a very jolting feeling, perhaps similar to having your children ripped away from you by some distant aunt who accuses you of doing wrong without ever being there.

Here was this unhealthy looking fella from NYC I hardly ever saw, not letting me leave with dignity. Perhaps he was just the messenger sent by HR, but he didn't bother to relay any reassurances. I had just this memory out of mind until I revisited this post. Funny enough, my NYC manager left a couple years later.

It was embarrassing to explain to the clients I had planned to meet that morning why I could no longer stop by with my manager and subordinate. It was embarrassing not many people showed up to my final goodbye drinks gathering because I couldn't send a blast e-mail from work.

Needed To Find Some Answers

My storybook ending was in complete disarray.

All of this happened on a Friday morning, and I just drove back home and sulked. Can you imagine spending so much time trying to engineer your layoff, thinking everything was going perfectly swell only to realize on your very last day everything you worked so hard for was in jeopardy?

Not one to sit still, I went to a Hastings School of Law community help session to get advice about my case. There were at least 500 other people there seeking help in matters ranging from family law, criminal law, civil law, and employment law.

I waited in line with my wife for two hours to in order to speak with an employment professor and a law student. I showed them my documents, explained my situation, and asked them what they thought.

After a 15 minute discussion, they essentially said I shouldn't worry. I felt a little better after the consultation but I still worried because I spoke to other people in line who felt they were being unfairly terminated. All I could do was wait, plan out various scenarios, and hope for the best.

Getting The Answer I Wanted

The following Monday passed with still no phone call or e-mail from HR. Then Tuesday came and went.

Finally, six days after I was unceremoniously barred from returning to my desk, HR called to say everything would be OK. Her tone had softened tremendously since we spoke the week prior. She reassured me that all details of the severance package would be executed. Thank goodness!

It was at that moment I made an oath to work as hard as I could on my business so that I would NEVER have to go back to work full-time again.

I felt like I had dodged an enormous bullet, even though I didn't have any nefarious intentions. I felt rich because it felt like I was getting something for free. 100% of my bonus was invested in a 5-year Dow Jones structured note. Thankfully, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 did very well since 2012.

I reinvested 100% of my six-figure severance check because I felt it was free money. Therefore, with free money, I had more guts investing it.

Further, my severance package paid out tens of thousands a year in deferred compensation. Not only that, Financial Samurai was starting to generate income as well. Therefore, I didn't need the money.

Important Points To Recap About Severance Negotiation

If you want to increase the chance of success for negotiating a severance, remember these following posts.

1) HR tracks everything you do.

They know what e-mails you are sending and what is contained in all e-mails. Be very careful what you send, especially during a period of transition. HR also has e-mail tracking software that can flag e-mails based on particular keywords you use.

Be very careful what you say. If you'd feel embarrassed if one of your e-mails was published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, don't write it.

2) Where you go next matters.

Emphasizing you aren't going to a competitor is a huge selling point in severance negotiations. If you can argue that you're going to a client, even better.

There is no way in hell I would have got the severance package that I did if they suspected I was going to a competitor or if I explicitly said I was going to an arch rival. They'd kick me out the door in a nanosecond.

In such a hyper-competitive environment, taking trade secrets and going to a competitor is as bad as turning to the internet and writing a nasty tell-all like Susan did against Uber or Penny did against WrkRiot.

3) Loose lips sink ships. Don't talk about your severance package.

If you really want to put your severance in jeopardy, talk about it with all your colleagues.

I was able to successfully develop a good relationship with HR. But then I hurt our relationship by boasting to a co-worker I trusted to keep a secret. I told him how awesome it was to negotiate a severance. I'm sure this co-worker let my secret slip and proceeded to tell other co-workers. Someone else decided to go to our HR manager to see if he could negotiate a similar deal shortly after I did!

Once this happened, the HR manager was rightfully upset with me. If that didn't happen, she would have told me not to worry about my email snafu the night before my last day at work. Instead, she made me sweat it out for days before telling me everything would be fine.

Do not show joy after a great bonus or act deliriously happy after a fantastic severance. Stay stoic. Act like business as usual.

4) Speaking in person is always better.

Whether it's rigging a political debate or sharing sensitive information about others, it's always better to have a face-to-face meeting if you still depend on others to survive.

If you feel uncomfortable having your e-mail or text be on the front page of the paper, don't write it. Alternatively, if you've set up a business where any controversy is good for business, then by all means be as reckless as you want.

5) Keep private and work e-mail separate.

There's no excuse not to use a private e-mail only for personal messages anymore thanks to incredibly smooth user interfaces, the cloud, and fantastic mobile phone functionality.

Related: How To Negotiate A Severance As A High-Performing Employee

The Final Severance Payment

I'm sharing with you this e-mail warning story five years later because on March 31, 2017, I finally got the last of my severance package payment in the amount of $65,695.26. Hooray!

Once I do my 2017 taxes next year, the net amount should be closer to $75,000 because they took out a whopping 40% for state and federal taxes. As a writer who coaches high school tennis on the side, this is a significant amount of money to provide for my family.

Financial Samurai Final Severance Payment

If I had just quit back on March 8, 2012, not only would I have not received a $65,695.26 final direct deposit, I would have lost much more in deferred stock and deferred cash as well. The six-figures severance check I invested in a structured note wouldn't be worth much more five years later either.

This $65,695.26 final payment was from a fund with a 7-year vesting period some employees were forced to participate in during the financial crisis. I'm thankful the fund forced us to invest a portion of our bonus during the worst of the Global Financial Crisis! It ended up being a 3X return.

The Severance Gave Me Freedom

No longer do I have to worry about whether my old firm will withhold the final payment due to my activities since departure. I knew there was only a tiny chance they'd screw me over since I didn't join a competitor and never badmouthed them. But still, you just never know until the money hits your bank account

My old firm honored our agreement, and I'm grateful to them. They acted responsibly during the financial crisis by never accepting a dime of bailout money either. In a weird way, I'm a little sad my firm and I no longer have any ties after 16 years.

Now that I'm completely free, it's time to figure out what to do over the next five years. For so long I've been a proponent of Stealth Wealth, partly due to this fear of not being made whole on my severance. But now, there's nothing holding me back except for the joy of privacy.

It's funny, but even after I received my last severance payment in 2017, more than four years later, I'm happy just keeping things low-key. I'd rather be rich and not famous. Fame is a trap that takes away one's freedom.

Recommendation If You Want To Move On

If you want to leave a job you no longer enjoy, I recommend you negotiate a severance instead of quit. If you negotiate a severance like I did, you not only get a severance check, but potentially subsidized healthcare, deferred compensation, and worker training.

Since you technically got laid off, you're also eligible for up to 27-weeks of unemployment benefits. Then there's enhanced federal unemployment benefits as well. Having a financial runway is huge during your transition period.

Conversely, if you quit your job you get nothing. Check out, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye, on how to negotiate a severance. I first published the book in 2012 and it has since been expanded six times with 140 more pages of severance package information and strategy for the times.

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39 thoughts on “How One E-mail Almost Ruined My Severance Package And My Life”

  1. Imagine not getting your severance for a similar incident. With much more at stake than 75k? And being near retirement? How does one get over it? How?

  2. Oh man, that sounded so stressful. I have helped attorneys on some cases and am horrified at what I’ve seen available on people’s work computers. There is a paralegal or attorney somewhere who will eventually read all of your data unless you work in a magical company that is never the subject of a lawsuit. I’m glad it worked out the way it should have for you, but I do not envy you that stress.

  3. I would have immediately gone to a lawyer that specifically deals in such cases, rather than through the local school of law. I would have considered a $1,000 consultation much more credible toward my peace of mind than a legal clinic, and had anything been awry, being able to obtain credible, efficient counsel may have meant the difference between $0 and your ultimate severance amount. In this case, you were fortunate that the file was 5 years old and not 5 WEEKS old, but the amount of restrictions you encountered would have definitely been worth going to as high a level of legal professional that you could afford.

  4. Oh my goodness that’s terrifying, I read every word of this on my seat imagining myself in that situation.

    Mind you I work for an architecture firm, we’re not as worried about company secrets because, well you’re only as good as your creativity but still.

    I plan to leave my full-time job and focus solely on my blog in 2 years, so I imagine leaving work every day as if it’s my last. It’s so important to leave on good terms and never take anything from work.

    I use a Gmail if I need to send a personal email and try to make all my side-hustle notes in OneNote, I hope that helps! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Interesting, and totally easy to see how it happened. Good outcome. Maybe good advice would be to tell HR/your boss, in connection with the severance process, that you will be copying a bunch of personal stuff to a thumb drive, and then promise to let them inspect it in your presence before you go, so they can verify everything is personal, and can object to anything they have a problem with. If you really are being above-board, it would prevent any misunderstandings.

  6. What a story! If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep for days. But at least it all worked for you. Could you imagine if you had to come back to work after that happened?

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  7. This was a gripping story. Though I’m sure you could have done without the drama. Thanks for the reminder about keeping work and personal emails separate.

  8. I am asking because my company will be offering voluntary separation to some staff. There is a formula which is basically 2.5months for each year of service. I am 10yrs with the same company, so am eligible for ca. 25 months if accepted. The problem is that I am a good performing employee and may not be offered the package. I am also concerned with potential tax consequences, which will take over 40% of the amount. Is there a way to negotiate a periodic payment of the amount over a period of say 2-3 yrs? Is it a common practice nowdays?

    1. Severance amounts are related to your pay, like you mention in the formula. Don’t focus on my absolute amount, focus on the percentage amount because everybody gets paid differently.

      You may have to pay a 40% effective tax rate up front, but you’ll get that money back when you do your taxes.

      Companies want to severe ties w/ the severance payment. So having the severance payment amount be spread over 3 years is not going to happen. In my case, I had a lump sum severance payment within 3 months of my last day. But then I had 5 years of deferred stock and cash and investment compensation, which actually helped a lot b/c I paid less taxes the first several years given I didn’t have a job and was in a lower tax bracket.

      Good luck! When you are confident you want to move on, then you only have upside.

  9. Very interesting post. I am with my company for 10yrs and am trying to negotiate severance… I bought your book and hopefully it will help me.

    Your severance amount is amazing! Your amount is very high- I know you are not disclosing the amount, but it seems well above the average package non manager people are getting these days… Was it % of your compensation or just a figure you proposed to your company?

  10. Oh wow, what a good and scary story… My director who have earned respect from all team members and is about to retire gave us one lesson that do NOT ever misuse company phone and email account because all are traceable. HR doesn’t look at them in a good term but they will when necessary.

    Glad to hear things worked out!!

  11. Interesting post. However, I don’t understand why a company would pay you extra money when you are leaving? At my company, a large fortune 500, it seems they pay the least they can get away with and they certainly won’t be giving anything extra once you’ve put in your leaving notice! Can you tell me why they would pay you extra when they know you are leaving and not benefitting their company anymore. Why would they be negotiating anything?
    I feel like I’m missing something! Thanks.

    1. Sure. You are not alone. Most people think the way you do and cannot comprehend negotiating a severance. But the reality is, you have more power and ability than you think as an employee. I wrote a whole 150-page book on how to do so and my experience called, How To Engineer Your Layoff.

      But for some reference posts, see:

      Why Negotiating A Severance Is Possible: Absolute Reputational Destruction
      Use The Family Medical Leave Act To Help Negotiate A Severance
      Severance
      Negotiate Your Severance BEFORE Getting Hired

      1. I would likely to briefly respond to this. I bought Sam’s book and had my “severance” conversation today. Talked to my boss about not being happy here, he agreed a “smooth transition” was in both of our best interests. He suggested it would be a quid pro quo, and I said I was happy to help, yada, yada, yada. I was surprised at how quickly he readily agreed to this. Perhaps he can do better, doesn’t really matter his reasoning. He’ll get back to me with more information. The book gave me the “courage” to do this.

        1. Exciting times for you! I wish you the best of luck. If there are any last minute questions, feel free to follow up with a comment. Another buyer of my book wrote in from a 3-month long, around-the-world trip he’s taking with his family after engineering his layoff end in January. It’s pretty damn amazing, and he was surprised the company was so amenable as well. He was at his firm for I think 12 years.

          Having the courage to do something is half the battle. Having the skill and the emotional intelligence to get things done is the next step.

          1. Hey FS, as always thanks for being a sounding board. My boss is now asking me what’s most important to me, severance, total severance, health insurance, etc. He wants this to bring to his boss’ attention in their conversation. How do you recommend I respond? I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by low balling anything. Do I just throw up the kitchen sink and ask for everything? Or do I respond vaguely, such as “total severance that is commensurate with 6.5 years experience in an exec position?”

  12. No reply all blowups here. If I’m still at my current employer severance will be quite easy. My work has a written policy on standard severance that’s quite generous. It all comes down to how I’m classified. In special rifs it’s even more generous. I’d estimate to me a layoff with severance would equal a year of pay at present time.

  13. Agree with max. The feeling must be incredible…you’ll never be at the mercy of another HR department interpreting something innocent as something sinister. That’s freedom. That’s the goal.

    On an email note. I avoid it when possible. I always send things that I wouldn’t mind anybody else seeing and I ALWAYS send things I want documented and say “as per our talk earlier this, this and this needs to happen” so that there is no confusion or denial that I communicated any problems before other can plead ignorance.
    This was a simple mishap but should be a warning for anyone, not only those using company email. People are paying attention and there is no delete once something is posted or sent. So think.

  14. What you’ve described is an example of what it feels like to be at the mercy of an organization. Some people get accustomed to that feeling and learn to live with it for their entire working life. Others fight with everything they have to figure out a way to live without it. I’m in the latter camp, like many others in the FIRE community.

    I’m guessing negotiating a severance package instead of outright quitting is more common in some industries, and probably only applies to individuals with significant experience. We only hand them out to VPs and above, although some directors level individuals have succeeded in negotiating them into their deal (I’m excluding RIFs). That level leadership (director and above) only constitutes 2-3% of the company’s total population.

    So I would add that people should work to reach those levels if possible before attempting to quit by negotiating a severance package. Of course it all depends on the type of company/industry.

  15. That reminds me of an ode from LL Cool J: “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.”

    That is inspiring as I go into my next discussion with my boss about whether I want to pursue a title change for me, along with extra help. I have been flipping a coin wondering if I shouldn’t just ask for a layoff ASAP, but I want to hear what he has to say first, to decided whether I should pursue my summer off and start my next chapter in life as a gentleman of leisure. I bought your book so I have plenty of tactics to employ.

    Wish me luck, we talk in 30.

  16. Must have been terrifying for you. A good reminder to all of us to be cautions before we hit that email “send” button! Glad everything worked out ok.

  17. Wow…that’s an awesome life example.
    Personally, I never had any email problems, I always checked twice before I send.
    Anyway good to know that everything went well.

    Keep it up!

  18. Go Finance Yourself!

    Wow. I would have been sweating bullets during those 6 days. I hate being in situations where someone else controls my fate.

    No similar blow up stories for me. I’ve had a couple of oh shit moments after sending an email but it was never anything bad. I’ve always kept my work and personal email separate because I know I would screw it up somehow if I kept everything together.

  19. Jim @ Route To Retire

    I could just imagine my stomach dropping with that first call from HR letting you know what they found.

    Years ago, when I first started in the corporate rule, I had a good friend (who is now an attorney, of course) tell me never to put anything in writing that could possibly bite you in the ass later. For some reason, that stuck to me like glue. I’m still very conscious of that in my work life, but also in my personal life.

    Glad things worked out so well for you in the long run!!

    — Jim

  20. Oh my gosh that would have been terrifying!!! After a similar work experience where the lines of personal email and work email can be blurred, I always keep everything really separate now! I’m also totally in agreement about loose lips sink ships! I myself, have gotten into some hot water because I can be a bit of an over-sharer! Glad everything worked out!

  21. RetireOnDividends

    Amazing – you would never have forgiven yourself if they had used that email against you!

    Reply all is certainly very dangerous. Often you reply all when you are in “default mode” so I’ve trained myself to default to just the normal reply.

    Congrats on seeing out your vesting period. You must feel even freer again!

    1. I would have gone to war and fought for my severance if they deemed I violated the agreement.

      I will NEVER back down from an injustice. If Uber felt Susan’s scathing Medium article was bad, wait until they get a load of me. It is game over if someone decides to screw with me.

      Good thing nobody has decided to be so reckless, and I’m a nice guy :)

      I certainly do feel freer. It’s been less than a week, and it still feels good. But like everything, I’ll probably revert back to the way I always feel within several weeks.

  22. Wow that must have been so nerve wracking to go through that especially with that timing. I’m so glad that everything worked out in the end.

    At my previous job, our head of IT security was super paranoid and for good reason. Scammers hit our company all the time with phishing schemes and the sort. I know our emails were constantly monitored and I even suspected that our other computer activity was as well – meaning IT could see what we were doing at any time if they wanted to without us knowing.

    We had security software installed that wouldn’t allow us to use any external devices if we connected them to our PCs and everything was logged even if we were just plugging in a personal device to charge it ik the USB port. Technically even doing that was against the IT security policy.

    Companies with valuable proprietary info that don’t have secure methods to protect their data are just asking for a breech of data theft to occur. It happens way more than people realize and a lot of times it can go undetected for weeks, months or even years.

    Clearly your email snafu was a total accident and thankfully everything got cleared up! But that must have been super tough having to wait around to find out.

    1. Pretty restricting to limit what you can plug in and what you can surf. I know lots of friends with websites who say some readers can’t access their sites from work. But nor should they.

      Back then just 5-10 years ago, our desktop/company computer was our go to computer for surfing the web while on break. Now, our massive phone phones makes surfing the web so much easier, better, and faster with no restrictions.

      Thank goodness for technology!

      1. I work for a bank in IT and I can tell you they have policies in place to limit what can be connected, what can be seen via the web, etc. There are exception requests you can make but they get vetted before committee before being either approved or denied. USB ports? You can charge, but otherwise locked down.

        Everything is 100% logged. They likely even capture print jobs just to make sure if something somehow pops up in the wild, they can figure out where it came from.

        Big Brother and Sister and most assuredly watching you and you are not at all being paranoid if you think you’re doing something that is at best a grey area. They may even have former PD (we do) in their IT security employ doing forensic analysis if they think you might be up to no good. And you wont know till you get paid a visit.

        Be smart, like Sam is trying to tell you and think thrice before doing something you have any doubt about.

        1. I work in a bank branch and I can tell you that my phone is charged before I leave the house. If I have to charge my phone, the charger goes into an electrical outlet and NEVER a USB port.

          As for people’s computer activity being monitored, I can tell you this is true. I know people who have gotten fired for inappropriate IMs sent over the bank’s IM service.

          Your computer activity is ALWAYS being monitored. That’s why the ONLY non-work web surfing I do is on Yahoo Finance. And it’s alright since my manager did say he wanted me to keep up with the market. He never gave me any details beyond that. So technically, I’m just following orders there.

          Big Brother is always watching you, and that includes your social media and blogs. That’s why Angry Retail Banker is anonymous.

          Sincerely,
          ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  23. Brad - MaximizeYourMoney.com

    Wow. Crazy how one little slip up can cause so much trouble. Glad it all worked out for you though!

  24. Ugh, that must have been humiliating, being barred from your desk like that.

    My company, when it was much smaller, had a tradition of email pranks. Two friends of mine sent out a prank email to a larger mailing list. Only this time around someone was offended by the contents of the email and complained to HR. Both of them had their laptops confiscated and were told to stay home for a week while their case was adjudicated. It ended up with nobody being fired, just warned that email related jokes were not considered funny.

    The other downside of email is that much is lost in the writing and one can never be sure of the effectiveness of the medium. If face to face is an option, always pick that option instead.

  25. Jack Catchem

    It’s in a different direction, but there was a distinct culture of email sabotage at my old Big City PD job. Police work is sudden and unexpected. If you abandoned a computer and were still logged in, other coppers usually took it upon themselves to start emailing coworkers using your email system.

    Of course no one would want anyone to get “in trouble” so they would send saccharine emails to the entire chain of command, commenting on their positive leadership, perfect example, and profound impact they were having on the life of the unfortunate patrol cop.

    In a stoic, hard boiled department like Big City, these sweet nothings passed up the chain were usually mortifying for the cops in question and extremely damaging to their self image.

    I’ve always believed the best approach to coworkers is: “You can trust them with your life, but not your money or your wife.”

    (Sorry, cohabitant doesn’t rhyme)

  26. Stealth Saver

    No blow-up stories thankfully. But your post is a great reminder about being careful about what you write, not just on email but anywhere online.

    “If you’d feel embarrassed if one of your e-mails was published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, don’t write it.”

    You hit the nail right on the head with that! This will be my mantra for the next week :)

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