6 Awkward Emails You Shouldnt be Sending

6 Awkward Emails You Shouldnt be Sending You should always seriously consider what youre writing, why, when and to whom youre addressing your emails. Its part of your responsibility as a professional to be, well, professional and that requires some degree of self-monitoring.Regardless of to whom your writing, however, there are just some things better left unsaid and, perhaps mora so, better left unwritten. After all, you may notlage be the only person monitoring your emails. As a working professional, you never want an email thread to haunt you in your career. And because emails are traceable and, often tracked by your employer, its important to be thoughtful in crafting them.Here are six emails you just shouldnt send to anyone at work or from your work email, really, ever. Save yourself from the awkward cleanup in the aftermath.1. The Trash Talk EmailSure, its inevitable that youre not going to be the best of buds with every colleague you ever have over the course of your career. But keep those thoughts to yourself (unless your working relationship is seriously a cause for concern, in which case, take it up with that colleague and/or human resources). You dont need to be friends with everyone in your office you do, however, need to know how to have a professional working relationship with them that allows you both to do your jobs efficiently.You never want to trash talk anyone in the office because you never know who your words might get back to thats why you especially dont want to have those words in writing with your name branded on them. Besides, trash talking is incredibly unprofessional and can hurt the morale of the kollektiv. And you can spend your time much more wisely at work by, well, doing your job.2. The Gossip EmailSimilar to the trash talk email, the gossip email is never one to which you want your name attached. Gossiping in the office is unprofessional and can not only hurt your own career, but it can also hurt someone elses career if youre spreading false information about a colleague or boss. Leave your two cents on your colleagues or boss out of your emails (and, really, out of your mouth at least while at work), and focus on the work you have at hand.If theres gossip in the office thats making you uncomfortable, instead of jumping on the bandwagon, address it at its source and take it up with human resources if necessary.3. The Job hund EmailSo youre on the hunt for a new job and plan on quitting your current one. Cool thats not uncommon. In fact, you probably have a colleague or two or three or a whole bunch secretly doing the same. But secretly is key. Dont go emailing your colleagues about how your job hunt is going, especially if you work directly with them and your quitting will affect their work. You dont want your job hunt status to get to your boss before you even land a new job, and theres a chance that your boss is monitoring your emails even if your colleagues really do keep your secret tresor with th em.In short, dont spill the fact that youre quitting for a new job until youve actually accepted an offer at a new job and really are indeed quitting.4. The Premature EmailWeve all accidentally sent emails prematurely, but if you take even a few extra seconds to reread your emails before sending them, you can avoid sending emails with typos, incomplete messages, to the wrong recipients, to unnecessary recipients or other mistakes. You dont want to have to send a chain of emails to correct your mistakes, to add forgotten attachments or even to respond to parts of an incoming email you forgot to address.Do your best to read all of your emails in their entirety, and read your responses in their entirety, too, so you make sure that what youre sending back is comprehensive, complete, fact- and spell-checked and being sent to the correct and necessary recipients.5. The Irrelevant EmailYou should never send emails to people who dont need your emails because were all already drowning enough . An average office worker receives 121 emails a day do each other a favor a cut out the unnecessary CCs.For example, if youre sending an email to your human resources team with the W-9 of your new employee, you dont need to CC five other team members involved in the hiring on the thread, just because they were involved. If they dont need to see the W-9, they dont need to see the email. If youre sending your colleague in IT a question about a website glitch, you dont need to CC your boss who doesnt need to know about (and cannot fix) the glitch you just need IT to fix it. If the project doesnt pertain to them (and, especially, if theyre in a higher position of authority with more important matters to deal with), its not necessary and its frankly frustrating for them to clutter their inbox.6. The Too-Personal EmailLeave your personal problems, relationships, drama, weekend stories out of your emails. Whether youre explaining why youll be in late or just catching up with a colleagu e based in another city (or even just across the office), you dont need to overshare on your work email. While you shouldnt be bringing personal matters into the professional space anyway, you especially dont want to be putting those personal matters in writing where they could come back to bite you or be considered distracting or unprofessional.If youre really close with a coworker, its inevitable that youll share personal information leave it for lunchtime conversations, happy hours or out-of-the-office get-togethers. Your boss, IT or someone else might be reading all about your date night or divorce or girls night out, too.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog,HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram Facebook.