That last post was a little heavy, so here is one that you can have fun with. About a year ago, the lawyers got involved in our E-mail at work. This meant that we needed to add disclaimers to the bottom of any E-mail that was going to be distributed outside of the company. The disclaimer looks something like:
This email and any attachments may contain information that is confidential and proprietary information of YOUR COMPANY, Inc. and are intended only for the use of the addressee. Unauthorized use, distribution, or copying is forbidden. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete all copies of this message and any attachments from your computer. Thank you.
I suppose you could copy/paste it to every email, but that is a pain, so instead, you simply add it to your Outlook “Signature.” Unfortunately, this “signature” does not distinguish between internal and external email, so you end up adding the disclaimer to every email, regardless of intended recipient. Eventually, nobody even notices this disclaimer.
This is when the fun begins, because now you can play a new game: Modify the disclaimer to say something funny (or offensive?) and see if anybody notices. Instead of the normal disclaimer, you could try something like:
This email and any attachments may contain delectable, juicy morsels of information about the inner workings of YOUR COMPANY, Inc. and are intended only for the abuse of the addressee. Unauthorized use, distribution, or copying will result in death. If you have received this email in error, please print it out, add a nice garnish and your favorite condiment, and eat it immediately. Thank you.
Don’t alter it to much: Keep the same font, the same number of lines, etc. For example, the following disclaimer would probably be picked up almost immediately:
This email is intended to tell you that without a doubt, you are the strangest person I have ever met and you smell funny.
Another couple things to consider, if this is the first time you have sent the recipient an email, you may want to stick with the standard disclaimer. If there is a specific person that you want to “test,” just Cc them on every mail you send for a week (I think this is what people are doing to me currently). After they have seen hundreds of your emails, you can start modifying the disclaimer. If your email is intended for a lawyer, you may want to stick with the standard disclaimer also. I think they actually read these things…
Final note, this is one of those practical jokes that is meant for an audience of one…you. The point is to see how much you can modify the disclaimer and for how long you can get away with it!
Send a comment or two on the most modified disclaimer you have used and how long you got away with sending it.
Have fun…
Tags:
