What the…? and other reactions to texting mishaps

By: Lori Mcmullin, APR, Director of Business Operations & Communications

Center for Business Excellence

So, I am the newest member of “Team McMullin.” This is my first official holiday season as part of the family. Needless to say, I enjoyed sending out cards this year.

That is, until I received a text from another family member! My husband and I were both recipients of the text that read on my end, “Thank you BOTH for the nice holiday card Not.” I immediately went to the box of leftover tropical-themed cards to see if, for some reason, they were offensive (of course, they weren’t). So, what did I do wrong?

Turns out, I didn’t get the entire text. Thankfully, my husband did. The text went on to say how the card was not the run-of-the-mill holiday greeting. In other words, it was appreciated for being unique.

I have another one for you. A friend of mine recently visited her daughter in college. As she made her way to the campus, my friend texted what she thought was, “Want to get mannis and peddis?” What a nice afternoon of mother/daughter bonding, right?

Well, I can’t share with you what autocorrect did to this nice gesture -- it was that bad! Her daughter thought she had lost her mind!

The point is, nothing beats good old-fashioned, face-to-face communication. However, since we live in such a technology-driven world, we need to be mindful the message we send or receive may not be the intent. We must be careful not to be prematurely reactive or to assume the person on the other end of our message acts or responds the way we wish.

Happy holidays!