When I received an invite to a fall luncheon in my email, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. It’s not that I don’t enjoy luncheons, in fact, quite the opposite. The reason for my eye roll was that this invitation, like so many others I had received, was actually intended for someone else.
You see, when I first created my email address with Gmail, I felt lucky to snag a simple and straightforward handle. Little did I know that it would soon become more of a curse than a blessing. As it turns out, there were other E Hugs out there, and their friends and family were all too quick to hit send without double-checking the spelling in the “to” field. Before I knew it, my inbox was filled with invites to purse-making classes, reminders for dentist appointments, and notifications about Shabbat dinners. I was even informed about hairstylist jobs and the arrival of orthopedic shoe inserts. Once, I was asked to proofread a bat mitzvah program, of all things.
At first, I did what any kind person would do and informed the senders of their mistake. But despite my efforts, the emails kept coming. I couldn’t understand why there were so many emails, and why so many of them were from repeat offenders. If I had to sign off on Amanda’s bat mitzvah program one more time, I was certain I was going to lose my mind.
Fueled by a desperate fervor and a slight tendency for mischief, I decided to take a different approach. Maybe, I thought, this would teach them a lesson, or at the very least shake things up enough that they would start paying attention. I was going to start responding in character.
Related Post
So, I crafted a response to the fall luncheon invitation, expressing my sincere gratitude and regret that I would not be able to attend due to my location in Toronto, Canada, which is 8 hours and 18 minutes away, according to Google Maps. I even added a touch of humor, mentioning the congestion of the Gardiner Expressway around peak traveling times.
My response seemed to have the desired effect. The senders, at least most of them, were shocked and amused by my antics. Some even apologized for repeatedly sending me emails intended for someone else, while others were more perplexed than anything. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction at finally getting their attention.
But as the emails continued to pour in, I realized that my initial approach to addressing the issue wasn’t ultimately solving the problem. I needed a more permanent solution to end this never-ending stream of misdirected emails.
I decided to take a more proactive approach. I reached out to Gmail’s support team to see if there was anything they could do to help me resolve this issue once and for all. After explaining my situation, they were able to assist me in updating my settings to filter out emails that were not intended for me, significantly reducing the number of misdirected emails that I received.
With this new solution in place, the constant stream of misdirected emails finally began to dwindle. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I wouldn’t have to constantly field emails intended for someone else. It was a small victory, but for me, it made all the difference in the world.
In the end, I learned that sometimes a little creativity and outside-the-box thinking can help solve even the most frustrating of problems. And who knows, maybe my character-filled responses brought a smile to the faces of those who mistakenly included me in their email exchanges.
