Urban Legends E-mail from Co-workers

[lolane]

If I get one of these e-mails from a friend or family member I will send the snopes link. Half the time it's no help, my grandmother is convinced that snopes is a trash website, and I have no way of knowing that the things on the website are true. If it's from a coworker I do not bother to do that, I just delete.

I also delete all e-mails that say anything like "See how many true friends you have..." or "I know you're a true friend if you return this..." or "If you love Jesus/God..."

[kingsrings]

One time at work last year I got an email from a co-worker whom I didn't know. Our client's company is composed of thousands of workers. This woman was on her last day working there, and she sent a goodbye email to what must of been the entire company roster. Why, I have no idea. It's pretty hard to do it accidentally, so it probably was intentional. Was she just so lazy that she couldn't be bothered to look in the company directory to only send it specifically to the people she knew? Not only that, but for whatever reason she also used the email as a sounding board for her political opinions. Apparently she is one of those politics-obsessed people. She thanked everyone for supporting and putting up with her causes, and advised us to follow the beliefs and live as such-and-such political leaders did. One of these leaders she supports was a mass murderer! Yikes.

[Lisbeth]

I've reached the point where I delete those E-mails and go on.  I really hate them and at least half the time they turn out to be inaccurate.

If they're occurring in a work situation, I'd let HR know that and ask if they could put a stop to it.

[Clara Bow]

Every time I get one I go into the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror with the lights out and chant "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary". Then I wait for the homicidal maniac in the UPS uniform to come and kill me, since I've got all that bad luck from those chain emails that I haven't been returning because I'm such a bad friend and I don't love Jesus and there is no one who cares enough about me to be a good enough friend to recieve those emails from me anyway...by the way, where is that check Microsoft was supposed to be sending me??
I love Snopes, I send it to everyone. Are they still passing around that thugs under the car thing? God that was going around back when I was in junior high, during the reign of the Tudors....

[LadyJaneinMD]

The ones that really tick me are "If yu love Jesus, you will forward this-if you don't then you must be a Godless heathen going straight to hell in a handbasket."   Now where did I put my handbasket?

I'm a born-again Christian, and even I hate those kind of emails! Another I hate is where they ask you to sign a petition saying that yes, you believe in God, and you're supposed to send it along to everyone to know so that they can sign it as well. Just another manipulation to get junk spam chain email along.

I send them back with 'Spam in God's Name is STILL Spam'. 

That usually stops them.  At least, I haven't gotten any in awhile.

[Clara Bow]

I'm not religious but I get irked when I see people's religion get perverted like that. I don't think God and your relationship with him is supposed to be a game or a tricky little game....
For those who are serious about their faith I can imagine that these emails are extremely offensive. As a non-Christian agnostic in good standing I can tell you that no one is trying to eliminate God, or at least no one credible....but you knew that....

[ShadesOfGrey]

if it's not offensive or consistent enough to interrupt me, I just delete it. My cousin used to send out literally 10-15 forwards a night (not exaggerating).  I simply sent her an email asking her to send me only the ones she felt were truly worth it.  She actually did cut down to 3-4.  Eventually she stopped. 

OTOH, If it is offensive, I reply with a simple "please dont send these to me anymore."

[kareng57]

Can your company have a policy that no non-work-related e-mail messages are allowed?  It's bad enough to have this kind of garbage clogging up your personal e-mail box at home; no one needs it at work as well.

Yes, when I reply to anything like this I refer them to Snopes. But, like others here, I've had the experience of people asking me to check something on Snopes.  I don't mind, but I don't really understand - it's a very easy site to use.  And I do think that senders should be informed when their message turns out to be an urban legend.  We all have enough to worry about in life - we don't need the added concerns about when the government is going to start taxing e-mail, etc.

[PrettyPinkPost-its]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.  The co-worker responded to my e-mail saying "Thanks, I really thought it was true."  So at least she won't be stealing hotel keys in the future!!
GIna

[Mrs. Eclipse]

The "see who your true friends are" e-mail is also ridiculous.  If they were my true friends, why would I want to spam them to death?

[graceh9]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.  The co-worker responded to my e-mail saying "Thanks, I really thought it was true."  So at least she won't be stealing hotel keys in the future!!
GIna

the 'keys' are cheap and disposable so stealing them is really not an issue -- most hotels  don't even make a serious attempt to recover them

[Pixie]

I cannot stand spam in any form.  I don't eat it and I don't read it. 

[Kyle1964]

If I get one of these e-mails from a friend or family member I will send the snopes link. Half the time it's no help, my grandmother is convinced that snopes is a trash website, and I have no way of knowing that the things on the website are true. If it's from a coworker I do not bother to do that, I just delete.

I also delete all e-mails that say anything like "See how many true friends you have..." or "I know you're a true friend if you return this..." or "If you love Jesus/God..."

I am a Christian, but it it's highly irritating when my cousin will send me (and about 30 other people) the "if you love Jesus" or other Christian-themed inspiration emails.  She doesn't just send one, but on average there are about 6 or 7 that she sends all at once.  I've become so used to deleting the whole bunch that I'm afraid I might end up missing a legitimate email from her.

[Jocelyn]

I send them back with 'Unfortunately' or 'Fortunately' (depending on the type of myth) 'that's an urban myth. See www.snopes.com/specificpagewiththisurbanmythonit for more information.

It only tends to happen more than once with complete idiots- the smart folks get the idea of checking Snopes before sending it next time. 

[Brentwood]

Funny you should post this-just yesterday I got an email forward from a co worker about how Target (a) is a French company (B) hates veterans and (C) doesn't allow Salvation Army Bell Ringers in front of their stores(this one's true but they send SA a huge check every year.

So I replied to all with the snopes link. Sighs.

The ones that really tick me are "If yu love Jesus, you will forward this-if you don't then you must be a Godless heathen going straight to hell in a handbasket."   Now where did I put my handbasket?

Oh, I really, really hate that Target one. Hate it. Target has had a longstanding policy disallowing any solicitation in front of their stores. For years, they made an exception for the Salvation Army. When they stopped making that exception, people were all up in arms about the supposed "banning" of the Salvation Army. It's ridiculous.

Target is based in Minneapolis. Even though the corporation passed out of the hands of the original family-owned business, it's still a Minneapolis company and always have been. Those of us who grew up with Target have used the "Tar-zhay" nickname for years. How that morphed into a belief that the company is French is beyond me. I'd suspect it was a malicious rumor started purposefully.