The Reply-All gaffe

Everyone's done it. They can usually remember when and why, and the thrill of panic and fear when they realized that they had actually done it. Ah yes, whoever designed Outlook, Gmail, and other email programs either had a wicked streak, or didn't realize the consequences of putting the Reply-All button right next to the Reply button.

Fortunately, it wasn't my business partner or me who committed the Reply-All gaffe this time 'round. It was the seller's rep. And in a plot twist more reminiscent of a soap opera rather than a business transaction, we discovered exactly what this particular seller thought of us: green, entitled, and power-hungry. We also realized that the seller's rep was misrepresenting us in a few ways.

Woah! That certainly wasn't the rejoinder we expected back from our measured reply to this seller's 'take it or leave it.' We had politely responded that if forced to choose, we'd have to 'leave it,' but here are the issues that, once addressed, can bring us back to the table. We really didn't want to leave it, but we came to embrace the view that a bad deal is worse than no deal at all. We had to walk away.

We've never had the experience of walking away from a deal before, but a close approximation is a breakup. Boy and girl meet and grow fond of each other, and then the time comes to fish or cut bait. Boy (that would be my business partner and me) says hey, I'm broke, but here's an IOU for a ring. Girl says forget your IOU, show me the money. Or else. And so boy says fine. Else. By the way, here's how you can bring me back.

In the pandemonium that ensued after the Reply-All gaffe, we learned that girl thought that boy was posturing. Which was interesting. Boy had thought girl was probably bluffing, but was responding in earnest anyway because boy was no good at playing games. Moreover, in his heart of hearts, boy had actually walked away. Misrepresentations, plot twist, missed signals... Were these the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy? (Comedy?) Or just real life soap opera?

Who knows. The moral of this story is this: don't click Send till you're damned sure that you want it going to everyone in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields. 'Cause once you click send, you're too late. It ain't coming back.