What to do with an inapproriate email at work?

Question

I just got an email from an employee I've never met (she works in an office in another city) about how to use marketing to tell a guy you're good in bed. It's pretty racy, and mentions body parts and sex. I have no idea why it was sent to me, but I am uncomfortable having recieved it at work. Should I do something? I don't want the bosses to think I participate in this behavior, and I'm afraid they'll see that it was emailed to me and think poorly of me. I would never use my work email for something like that. Should I go to my boss, HR? I'm embarrassed, but I want to cover myself.

Answer 1

I'd definately report it to HR and your immediate supervisor. This isn't to get the woman in trouble, but just to cover your own hide just in case the corporate office tracks the email back to you.

Answer 2

It is possible she sent you this email by mistake. She may have meant to send it to someone else. Just ignore it - by not responding, you don't look like you participate in that behavior or that the email was solicited in any way by you. You may want to send a separate email (not a "respond to" email, but a from scratch email) in which you explain the possible mix up to your co-worker and just say that you wanted to let her know so that next time she is more careful when typing the address/double checking the address before hitting "send". You don't have to mention the subject of the email, just say that you think you may have received an email intended for a friend of hers by mistake. Kinda a "heads up" deal. If you keep getting these types of emails from her despite your "warning", then tell your boss or HR. It could be considered sexual harrassment.

Answer 3

If the woman who sent it to you is pretty high up, then just delete it and forget about it, especially if you were one of multiple people copied on the e-mail. She was the one using the company e-mail system inappropriately, and if she's at or above the level of your boss, you defintely don't want to send her a message telling her what to and not to send to you. Unless you feel it's a direct matter of sexual harrassment, don't involve HR, or anyone else, just delete it.



Corporate e-mail can be traced back to the sender and the recipient. If you received an inappropriate e-mail, but didn't forward it, and the sender can be tracked back to someone higher on the ladder than yourself, that isn't going to get you into trouble. Turning over someone higher in the company to HR over a silly e-mail might...

Answer 4

Delete the email without responding to it. You will not be disciplined for receiving email. You do not control that. If this is coming from someone in a high position, you should also report it to HR and ask them to protect your privacy so that the person does not retaliate. HR should handle telling this person to use their email more appropriately. Sending emails of this nature is considered sexual harassment and needs to be stopped before it goes any further.

Answer 5

Just delete the email. I went through this a couple of months ago and it was not what I thought it was. A number of people in our office was receiving inappropriate emails from other people in our office and we all later found out our company's intranet had been infected with some sort of spam email virus. In other words the emails were "ghost emails". The emails weren't coming from anyone in our office, their email addresses were just attached to the "ghost emails". We were informed by our IT guy to just ignore the emails and delete them when you receive them.



Before you panic by going to your boss or HR, ask a few of your co-workers if they've received some inappropriate emails from other co-workers. It could be just another intranet virus.

Answer 6

The best way to handle this and save face for you is to send her a separate e-mail message. Just simply tell her that you would prefer not to receive jokes and messages through the company e-mail unless they are business related. Your company may have an electronic media policy which states this is not allowed as well. Save a copy of the original message and the e-mail back to her for your own records and then delete it from your system. You have covered yourself in case someone is monitoring your e-mail system (which a number of companies do now a days) and you have let her know that you don't want to get these kinds of messages from her again.

Answer 7

Well, you can email your HR person or boss and tell him that you received this inappropriate email and state your concerns about them sending you things that you know nothing about... If they ask you to forward it then do so but don't cut and paste it... That would be how I would handle it... I wouldn't be embarrassed by it because you are innocent you didn't ask for the email it came to you... But that I would thing that would be the best way to cover it and to stop needless email on company time...

Answer 8

no, just explain to him the whole situation and that you were somehow forwarded this email and wanted to be upfront with him to let him know you are not apart of this horseing around. If you do take part in this no matter what email you get on personal or work at the office, your employee has every right to access your information and even read your email. This can only happen if you get on it at work. Good Luck and please tell him, its not worth getting written up for!

Answer 9

I would report this to HR or her manager immediately. I had that happen with an employee in our India office sending me unsolicited inappropriate emails. I called his boss directly and he made sure the employee understood this was inappropriate and it stopped the behavior.

Answer 10

She probably accidentally sent it to you by accident because your name is close to someone elses.



Just delete the email and forget about it. Why would you want to get someone else in trouble? Plus, you look like a whiny rat to your boss.



If I reported everyone that sent me a racy email, the company I work for would have gone under by now.



Are you at work now? Your work ethic is pretty good I see.

Answer 11

If the employee is someone you know (even though you haven't met) ask her not to send email like that as it violates the appropriate use policy of the company. If she is someone you don't know, just add her to a spam list. It's not your fault if you get unsolicited negative email.

Answer 12

Just delete the e mail....



I get racy e mails in my work e mail all the time. And I work in a very serious office...and half the time it's from my boss. Just delete it and don't think about it.

Answer 13

If you have no idea who this person is, then I would set my email up to block anything from her...however, if she is in a superior position with the company, blocking her emails may block one that is professional and business related in nature.



So, I would email her back politely and inform her that you would prefer that she not send anything to you that is of personal nature.



If you continue to get email from her that is not business related and not proper, then I would report it.

Answer 14

Keep it low key.



Just reply by saying "I am sure this was meant for someone else. Please refrain from contacting me in this manner in the future, or I will report you to H.R. I am simply not interested."



At that point, you have a reply on record that establishes that you were uninvolved, and at the same time you manage to stay out of some sort of ugly office politics.



If the sender does not leave you alone after that, she is a complete idiot, and you need not feel bad about her losing her job after that.



Good luck :)

Answer 15

The best way to end this problem is to block the email address. After that, the bothersome person cannot bother you anymore.

Answer 16

Show it to your immediate supervisor. You will be following the chain of command properly. I am sure your supervisor will appreciate your not keeping them out of the loop by going to HR first. What happens then is up to them.

Answer 17

See if you can block the E-Mailer and tell your boss even if you can't block it. At least they'll know you didn't ask for an E-Mail like that.

Answer 18

Don't go blowing the whistle just yet. Nobody likes a rat.



Reply to her email by saying that it is against company policy to send such emails. Please refrain from sending them to your email address.

Answer 19

Shft+Del

Answer 20

Just delete it. If they ask you, just tell them that you don't know who it's from and that you deleted it because its racy nature. It's just a silly email.

Answer 21

Just delete it, block her email address (to preclude further submissions) and forget about it.

Answer 22

definately cover yourself.. my husband got fired from a prominant banking job for this. i would either send it to HR or send her an email stating I do not want to receive email messages like this from you BCC(ing) HR.

Answer 23

Report to HR its wrong that she sent it out

Answer 24

Report it to HR. More likely to keep it quiet

Answer 25

just delete the email and block the silly woman, or tell her not to send you such nonsense again.

Answer 26

definetly go to your boss. you shouldnt get in trouble for something someone else sent to you. you need to make she if anything she get in trouble and not you

Answer 27

go to HR and you can be relieved and also you should have a filter for these things on your work computer, check for it or talk to someone to help.

Answer 28

Forward to supervisor.

Answer 29

So, you're ok with using company time to be on Yahoo then....