A co-worker that I do not know "personally" very well, but deal with
almost daily has started and continues to barrage my work e-mail with
anti-Obama sentiment. I understand that a lot of these are "forwards"
but that doesn't make them less annoying.

I do not want to create a tense relationship with this person, seeing how
we do interact on a daily basis. We have a basic working relationship.

This morning there are 5 more messages. I have decided to simply write an
e-mail stating that mail with jokes & neat pics are fine, but to cool it with
the political messages (vs. saying please do not e-mail me anything anymore).

How would you handle this? I'm curious...

---

"Ditch the terrier and get yourself a proper dog. Any dog under 50 pounds is a cat, and cats are pointless." - Ron Swanson, Parks & Recreation

I'd lie and say that I don't like to use my work email for anything except work. And just make sure you don't forget and send them something non-work related.

---

"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

Honest is always the best policy. Just say thanks for the funny jokes but you prefer to leave politics outside of work. Straightforward and non-offensive.

What's your company policy ? Claiming that you're concerned that you may be busted by the email police is a good way to get off his SPAM list.

And ask him to stop sending you ANYTHING personal. What is one person's joke is another person's offensive comment. And what's one person's funny picture is another person's evidence of harrasment.

We've had several people fired over the years for email abuse.

[www.google.com]

The Google is yer friend.

---

A man who is of "sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
(Paul Valery)

You might give him/her a throw away email address and ask that they send all non-work related stuff there.

---

Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Quote
Go To Top
[www.google.com]

The Google is yer friend.

Is this a joke or are you confused about the OP?

---

"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

but you prefer to leave politics outside of work.

Exactly.

I've used that a few times, and it's worked well, especially since I'm known for *not* discussing politics or religion.

---

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

There is no safety for honest men
except by believing all possible evil
of evil men.

Pixels were born to be punished. -Frederick Van Johnson

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* Sigs. It's Glocks I hate.

from friends and co workers.

[www.google.com]

---

A man who is of "sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
(Paul Valery)

are you using apple mail? bounce it...

---

----

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs [www.fakesteve.net]

Quote
Go To Top
The Google is yer friend.

Thought of googling, sure. I also thought that asking some "friends" here
for their real-world experience would prove useful... and it has.

How bout a little sense of community?

---

"Ditch the terrier and get yourself a proper dog. Any dog under 50 pounds is a cat, and cats are pointless." - Ron Swanson, Parks & Recreation

Hey, PM me this coworker's email and I will tell them to stop.
And not mention anything about who/where/why I know.
Just to stop.

it's completely inappropriate for work email.

you have an HR department?

---

[www.giyf.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2009 10:43AM by decay.

We have a no politics, porn or pigs rule here.

not even at the coffee pot.

Just tell him to knock it off.

i was going to say the honesty thing... but i know some people who do all this ridiculous forwarding (to the point that if they sent something personal i wouldn't know) and it is cultish with them. they don't get your pc-ness you are supposed to just look at it like a joke- implying 'hey whats wrong with you' etc
if that's the case then i'm w/ rgG ...

Quote
rgG
You might give him/her a throw away email address and ask that they send all non-work related stuff there.

I say you start forwarding pro-Obama emails, at least twice or three times a day. You might not solve your problem, but it could be fun to see the reaction.

Quote
billb
We have a no politics, porn or pigs rule here.

not even at the coffee pot.

Just tell him to knock it off.

What do you have against bacon?

---

Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta suburb)

I filtered a coworker who did that. Later when I didn't answer one of his "I need this data" email, nor the multiple emails he sent asking me about it, he came by my office and asked what was up. I told him what I did and why. I was pleasant and so was he--he told me he'd stop and I told him I'd unfilter him. Seemed to work.

This came FORWARDED from a friend.
>
> Advice From Snopes
>
> By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with www.snopes.com
> and/or www.truthorfiction.com for determining whether
> information received via email is just that: ?true/false or
> fact/fiction.?Both are excellent sites. Below is their
> advice for us.
> ?
> Advice from Snopes.com ?
>
> 1) Any time you see an E-Mail that says forward this on to
> '10' of your friends, sign this petition, or
> you'll get bad luck, good luck, or whatever, it almost
> always has an E-Mail tracker program attached that tracks
> the cookies and E-Mails of those folks you forward to The
> host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded
> and then is able to get lists of 'active' E-Mails
> addresses to use in SPAM E-Mails, or sell to other spammers.
>
>
> 2) Almost all E-Mails that ask you to add your name and
> forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years
> ago that asked people to send business cards to the little
> kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of
> Records for the most cards. These
> types of emails can come in many forms. All any of this
> type of E-Mail is, is a way to get names and '
> cookie' tracking information for marketers and spammers
> - - to validate active E-Mail accounts for their own
> profitable purposes.
>
> You can do your friends and family members a GREAT favor by
> sending this information to them; you will be providing a
> service to your friends, and will be rewarded by not getting
> thousands of spam E-Mails in the future!
>
> If you have been sending out (FORWARDING) the above kinds
> of E-Mail, now you know why you get so much SPAM!
>
> Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those
> types of listings regardless how inviting they might sound!
>
> You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are
> NOT in the long run. Instead, you will be getting tons of
> junk mail later! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich!
> Let's don't make it easy for them!
>
> Also: E-Mail petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress or
> any other organization. To be acceptable, petitions must
> have a signed signature and full address of the person
> signing the petition.
>
>
>
>

---

A man who is of "sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
(Paul Valery)

Quote
billb
We have a no politics, porn or pigs rule here.

not even at the coffee pot.

Just tell him to knock it off.

The "no pigs" intrigues me.

---

Quote
Michael
I filtered a coworker who did that. Later when I didn't answer one of his "I need this data" email, nor the multiple emails he sent asking me about it, he came by my office and asked what was up. I told him what I did and why. I was pleasant and so was he--he told me he'd stop and I told him I'd unfilter him. Seemed to work.

Had to do the same thing with my Aunt some years back. Most of my family took my "my email is for work and general correspondence" comments to heart, but she kept sending multiple FWDs. I eventually started bouncing everything back to her but that didn't stem the tide, so I just set up a rule to delete everything she sent.

Same thing; eventually, I got a call asking why I didn't reply to this or that question and I told her. It, too, seemed to work, though I still get the occasional "I know you said never to send things like this but it's so funny/cute/etc".

One thing, though, that I'm quite proud of is that I taught her how to use the BCC field and not once since has my name/email been one of hundreds at the top of the message; she sends her mass mailings (FWDs, yes, but also, say, pictures of renovations to her house) via BCC. And God bless her for that.

---

I used to get these from my brother all the time. I noticed that since he was just forwarding them from the source, let's say John Smith, I created a Mail rule to simply delete any emails that included "John Smith" in the From field and "FW:" in the Subject field.

I know who I can instant message with political humor at work, and who i can't.

I rarely send non-work emails using corporate servers. If I do, it's general information like a link to software or an Apple document.

---

[www.giyf.com]

I had that issue with a religious-righteous relative.

I told her that we'd love to hear about family/life, etc., but do not send ANYTHING religious. She complied.

Put the request to this person and give them an opportunity to show you respect. The fact that you haven't said anything may make that person think you're OK with it. If they don't stop, you can then use harsher methods, as you see fit.