When is a Joke Not a Joke?

A site visitor writes:

I hit “reply” to an email in which I should have “forwarded” to another individual. The reply wasn’t negative in connotation but it did refer to the sender in a joking manner (to me, anyway) as a “damn Yankee”. I realized immediately that I did not hit “forward” as intended but “reply”. How do I apologize to this person? Would it be better to wait and see if they bring it up? This person is a customer, who lives in another state and tends to make comments to me about my southern drawl from time to time, also in a joking manner.

It all depends on how that term was used and if there was anything in the e-mail that would warrant an apology. Since I didn’t see the e-mail, nor do I know the personalities involved, only you would know if that is the case (listen to your gut — it is always right).

I recently moved to the south from Chicago and have been referred to as a Yankee. From some it was friendly because they like me and it was all in good fun. But there have been others where referring to us by that word was clearly a negative connotation.

Your customer may not take it as a “joke” when you are describing them in that term to others. I wouldn’t leave your mistake hanging out there for possible incorrect interpretation by your customer. I would immediately e-mail apologizing for my error. If you don’t want to go that route, if they do respond, you’ll know what to do based on their tone.

This is just another example of how important it is to pay attention to details!