Face forward - even if not moving forward

E-mauling: the new way of getting under your skin (the term is not new, this is just the context of how today's post came about).

A blanket e-mail is sent to you from some co-worker within the company who has no bearing upon your job at all. Something like, “I’m Bill Canuski in paper clip design and will be on vacation for the next two weeks. If there’s any concerns or emergencies while I’m away, please contact my assistant, John Van Huesel.” But it’s not only sent to you, its sent to everyone - all 400 employees who have a company e-mail! This person should take the time to make a list of those who are directly responsible to him or those he is directly responsible to and focus the notice to just those people. I'm sure about 398 people clicked that notice to the trash.

Its even worse when this seems to be done primarily as a means to justify someone’s existence within the company. I remember a senior executive at a company I used to work for. Almost daily he would forward a clip moaning and groaning about the state of the industry. There never was a note of encouragement nor was there any company directive that had his name attached to it. Why was he there? It doesn't matter now because the company is bankrupt and the machines are gone to Mexico...