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So yesterday, I had a pretty embarrassing moment. I got an email, but I had a question about it so I needed to forward it to someone else to read. I was heading to a meeting so I informally jotted out my rambling questions about it and hit send.
OH, WAIT. MESSAGE NOT FORWARDED. I REPLIED TO THE ORIGINAL SENDER.
To say I was mortified is just the tip of the iceberg, but I apologized and explained the situation. Luckily, the original sender was totally understanding. Giant sigh of relief. I didn’t have to start crying all over my desk and de-activate all electronic communication forever.
Unfortunately, similar things have happened before. On a number of occasions I’ve sent a text message to the totally wrong person. Usually in those cases the message went to a friend, so I could laugh it off, but every once in a while, it’s a bit more traumatic. So if you are like me and just sent a message to the wrong person, what should you do? Well, depending on what happened, I think there’s different ways you can go about your damage control:
Try To Calm Down
You're not going to be thinking straight when your heart is racing a million miles a minute. I know it's easier said than done, but try to take a deep breath. A lot of times, people will be understanding about the mistake, but there are some different contexts to consider. Once you've toned down your panic, you can figure out what steps to take next. Source: Shutterstock.comA Random Message To The Wrong Friend
This happens all the time. If the message is just something harmless and has no context for this friend, a quick "Whoops - sorry! Meant to send that to someone else" is usually fine. When the actual message is nothing to stress over and the person who got it knows you, a quick apology for the momentary confusion or inconvenience is all you need. You don't need to get too wordy with it. Just acknowledge it quickly and move on. Source: Shutterstock.comA Random Message To Someone You Don't Know Well
Okay, even when the actual content of the message is harmless and inoffensive, it can still be embarrassing to send it to a person you don't know super well or who you want to see you as a responsible person. Apologize a little more formally if you accidentally texted the woman whose kids you babysit for or sent an email to your boss. You don't need to go overboard, but use a complete sentence and acknowledge the mistake, and they're likely to appreciate that you took responsibility and handled it with maturity. Source: Shutterstock.comYou Sent A Casual Invite To The Wrong Friend
If you send a "Want to hang out this weekend?" or a more low-key invite to grab food to the wrong friend, it is kind of harsh to be like "AHH NO, I DIDN'T MEAN YOU!" You don't want to make them feel like you want nothing to do with them. See what they say - they may be busy anyway and you're off the hook, or maybe it could be a stroke of good luck to spend quality time with them. I think in most cases, you may just be better off acting like they were the original recipient and not saying it was an accidental send. Source: Shutterstock.comYou Sent A Special Invite To The Wrong Friend
What if the invite is for a big event or something super specific? Personally, I probably still wouldn't say anything because I'd feel bad taking back the invite. That said, I also don't think it's out of line to explain that the concert you just invited your lab partner to was actually meant to be a present for your BFF's birthday. There's more money and personal intent involved. It's awkward, but I think people would understand if you explain the miscommunication with the invite. Still do it ASAP, and maybe see if that person wants to do something together in the future so they don't feel abandoned. Source: Shutterstock.comYou Sent A Friend A Text... About Her
This one is pretty bad, but has happened to a lot of us. To be honest, you were kind of in the wrong for texting behind her back even when you were doing it privately. Definitely don't make excuses. Know that this could cause lasting damage, but do apologize quickly and try to make it up in any way possible. You don't want to lose a friend over a bad message. Source: Shutterstock.comAccidentally Messaged Your Parents
This one isn't good if that message wasn't parent-friendly. Everyone's parents are going to react differently if they find out you've been up to something they don't think you should be. In general, be ready to deal with this in a face-to-face conversation with them. You can apologize, but the mistaken message could cause trust issues, so prove to them as much as possible that they can trust you. Maybe this could also be an opportunity to open up the usual lines of communication more with your parents going forward. Source: Shutterstock.comUse It As A Learning Opportunity
Whether it was a minor embarrassment or a major slip-up, use this as a reminder to not let it happen again. I know there are things out there that claim to let you unsend messages, but I can't say for certain which could actually work. My best advice to always double, triple, quadruple, quintuple check who the recipient is before you hit send. Source: Shutterstock.comHave you ever sent a message to the wrong person? Who was it for and who did you send it to? How did you handle it? Tell me in the comments.
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I didn’t have a phone lock on my phone so sometimes my phone would text or call someone by accident. One day my phone was clever enough to type O b po llppipo, that doesn’t make sense then it sent it, and it just had to be sent to my boss didn’t it! all whilst my phone was in my pocket whilst traveling on the bus home. My boss obviously saw it and texted back What? lol and then I had to explain to her that it was an accident, she probably thought I was lying though and was mucking round with her. Since then I have set the phone lock on.
Ok one time I meant 2 send my best friend an invite 2 the movies but I accidentally send it two one of my guys friends! At first I didn’t really worry about it but the next day @ school his girlfriend was telling everyone that I was trying two break them up! Even after I explained everything she still didn’t believe me. And to top it all off the guy I actually liked heard the rumor an now we barely talk. Lets just say now I’m a lot more careful with my texts.
Well it wasn’t a text but one time i said something embarrassing in a voicemail. I had called my best friend who is a guy. And at the end I said I love you I guess i was just used to it from calling dad all the time I was so embarrassed, but luckily he never mentioned it to me
It’s times like these that I’m glad of three things. 1: I don’t text much, and when I do, it’s usually just to convey some kind of information. I never have lengthy, personal conversations over text. 2: I don’t have a smartphone, so my inbox is organized a bit differently. Plus, no touch screen means it’s harder to accidentally select the wrong person from my contacts list. 3: My contacts list is pretty small, so there aren’t as many people to choose from, meaning it’s a lot easier to find the person I want to send a message to.