We’ve all seen them. Sometimes we cringe for the person who sent it, sometimes our heart stops when we realize we sent it. Yes. The dreaded… Reply All. 

A recent sharp upward trend in workplace Reply Alls has led Gmail to make an unprecedented decision to drop the feature in all work related email accounts. 

“250 people are getting an email from our boss, and then I get ten more emails that say things like ‘OMG Thank you! You’re the best!’” explained Autumn Stiller, a public school teacher whose school uses Gmail. “And then, just when you think the madness has stopped, five more people Reply All saying, ‘stop replying all.’ It’s just out of control. Madness really!” 

Stiller is not alone in her sentiments. Recently, one of her co-workers left his classroom for five minutes to go use the restroom. In just that five minute span, a school-district wide email was sent out from HR, and fifteen people had already replied all. 

“I came back to my classroom, and all of a sudden my email was blowin’ up!” Will Joelson, a 20 year veteran teacher, explained. “And for some reason… I couldn’t help myself from reading all of them. I think maybe deep down, I was hoping someone accidentally sent a really inappropriate reply. Call me sadistic, call me Ishmael… whatever. I just couldn’t help it.” 

While the effects of Reply All Syndrome weigh heavily on those who receive the flood of emails, the trauma for the one who accidentally sends the reply may be even worse. 

“Oh the humanity. I think I realized one day, actually as I was hitting the key on my chromebook, that I was doing it, but mid click, my reflexes weren’t good enough, and it sent,” reflected Sandy McLingley, a high school administrative assistant. “As soon as I sent it, I just wanted to go in my bag, ya know… I was so embarrassed. I used  to make fun of those people who did that. I never thought it could happen to me!” 

Reports have surfaced showing that people who accidentally reply all have had post email nightmares and identity crises that have lasted for months. One employee said he couldn’t show his face in public at work for months, until some other scandal broke that made people forget about his reply all moment. 

Still worse though is a growing variant of people who seem to be replying all on purpose because they like other co-workers to know that they are reading their emails. While nobody has stepped forward yet to admitting to such a complex variant of this growing problem, we all know they exist. 

“The only thing I have ever seen that’s worse than this outbreak is people who send a message to the wrong group chat. I hope we never see anything as bad as that again,” Stiller reflected.