THE other day I was driving along somewhere with my wife. We needed to firm up an appointment so I suggested to her to ‘just phone’ as she was about to send a WhatsApp message.
The husband answered the phone and the chat ended with much laughter.
ALSO READ : My Take: Car guard saves the day …if not the embarrassment!
I hadn’t been fully listening so asked what that was all about.
“I accidentally said ‘love’ you at the end of the call. He laughed and said he had done something similar but to a friend!”
This all reminded me of how I used to end calls at work, with the words ‘that’s great, lovely’.
It caused colleagues to look up in either puzzlement, bemusement or bewilderment. ‘What?’ I usually had to ask.
When they explained how it sounded I dropped the lovely part. I’m sure the general public appreciated it as well.
It’s not only on the phone where it can go wrong.
WhatsApp can cause some problems, too.
One chap I know sent the kissing emoji to a female employee, quickly followed by an embarrassed apology.
Someone else I know once sent her boss an emjoi of a broccoli in response to a certain important work related question.
Her defence was that it was next to the thumbs-up emoji.
One has to wonder what the broccoli was doing there in the first place.
I’m sure everyone has a similar story to tell.
And that’s not even bringing good old predictive text into the discussion.
That can cause a whole lot of embarrassment, like the one time I accidentally sent an expletive to my dear mother!
On the subject of WhatsApp, it’s owned by Facebook which means that whatever you share thereon is actually public.
You might not like that idea but you are probably safe if your writing doesn’t incite racism, terrorism or mention threats of war, or broccoli. Especially the broccoli.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
To receive our FREE email newsletter, click HERE
