EVERY WORKPLACE SEEMS TO HAVE THAT ONE PERSON WHO STILL JUST DOESN’T UNDERSTAND E-MAIL. IN ONE OFFICE IN NEW ZEALAND, THAT PERSON WAS FIRED AFTER TOO MANY COLLEAGUES COMPLAINED ABOUT HER SENDING OUT MESSAGES IN ALL CAPS, IN BOLDFACE, OR IN RED AND BLUE.

…whew, that was painful. She did, however, win a wrongful termination lawsuit and $17,000 in compensation.

The specific e-mail which led to the firing advised her team how to fill out staff claim forms, specified a time and date highlighted in bold red, and had a sentence written in all capital letters and highlighted in bold blue. It stated: “To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist.”

Her boss deemed the capital letters too confrontational for her co-workers to read after they woke up from naptime. Writing a message in capital letters is widely held to be the equivalent of shouting.

Wait, wait a minute. Either something is very wrong with this story, or Fox buried the lead here. There’s a job that includes naptime? An office job?

Anyway, we’re not sure whether this whole incident is a giant leap forward for workplace internet decorum, or a leap back.

Woman Fired for ‘Shouting’ in E-Mail [My FOX NY] (Thanks, The Observer!)

(Photo: i_yudai)

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