Something a bit odd happened earlier today. An e-mail had gone out to various senior members of the law school that came from one of the school staff but looked a bit fishy. Had some elements of unsolicited spam in it – “Have you heard the latest on..” and “the biggest scam you’ll find is…” Stuff like that.
I immediately informed several people that this person was indeed someone from the school, and that I’d look into whether there was anything wrong with her computer or perhaps if someone else had been infected with a virus and was spoofing her e-mail address. I was going to get to the bottom of this, I was going to set things right, and I was going to prevent bad things from happening to my colleagues. I was going to be the Assistant Dean of Awesomeness.
When I called up the person and asked if she had sent the e-mail on purpose, she explained that she did indeed send it, and that it was on behalf of one of the faculty she supports.
Me (somewhat deflated but still wanting to be helpful): “Oh, okay, well just wanted to check because some folks thought it might have been spam or you had a virus.”
Her (non-chalantly): “Okay, my computer is fine.”
That’s it. Simple. Seemed like a done deal. I summarized my findings to the senior staff who had first inquired and thought things were done. Wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing but at least I figured things out.
Then…the person sent the message again, with the little added “sent on behalf of Professor X,” which is how it usually is handled. I’m not on the list myself, so I didn’t know she had resent it. I also don’t see until later, when I am once again included in the conversation, that she has been mildly lauded for having corrected herself and that it was good of her to clarify her intent in sending the original e-mail.
So, because I had chosen to call her, because I had let her know that she had committed a bit of a faux pas, she corrected herself, and avoided a bad impression on the school, and in fact possibly made a good impression on some. Yet no word to me, and maybe even not much acknowledgement.
I don’t know where I’m going with this but sometimes this kind of stuff rubs me the wrong way. Is it too much to ask for a “thanks” or to acknowledge that someone helped you out of a situation?