E-Mail Calamities

Welcome to Gaffe Central. Our last exploration of e-mail blunders, "D'oh! The Most Disastrous E-Mail Mistakes," was so popular that we've been asked to cull even more mortifying morsels from those foolish enough to click Send without thinking.

Funny and frightening tales came in from PC World readers of all stripes--many from experienced users who should have known better, who let their passions (and their passion for sharing) get the upper hand. Others shared their friends' or colleagues' embarrassing moments.

So gather 'round the electronic hearth and warm yourself with these ten stories of agony and embarrassment. For obvious reasons, we're not revealing the storytellers' names.

The Risky Reply Button

"I had a troublesome employee who felt it was incredibly unfair that her personal phone time was interrupted by silly work meetings. On one occasion, she missed a meeting by three hours (she had to run a personal errand). When I sent her an e-mail asking why, she angrily forwarded the message to her friend saying 'Can you believe my boss? Isn't he the biggest $@#$@$?' Of course, she hit Reply, not Forward. The next thing she knew, she was hauled into the $@#$@$'s office for a heart-to-heart discussion."

That's Amoré!

"My girlfriends and I took a road trip to Las Vegas, and we mingled with a group of Italian tourists of the gorgeous male variety. 'Marco' was smitten with my friend, while 'Stefano' was infatuated with me. One thing led to another and, well, amoré resulted. Later, I had to tell all my girlfriends about my Italian escapades. I sent one friend, Sheila, a step-by-step, moment-by-moment description of all the steamy details, not realizing I'd actually clicked my father's e-mail address instead! Did I get a surprise when I called the next day to wish him a happy birthday, and he said he wished he could die?!

"The moral of the story: Memorize your parents' e-mail address and type it in by hand--never store it in your address book."

Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson

"My girlfriend's mother offered to help me with my résumé. I e-mailed it to her, forgetting that as a prank, I'd changed my signature to something rather raunchy a few days before. She was actually amused by my screw-up. But the next time I saw her, she winked at me when my girlfriend wasn't looking. Ack!"