let’s discuss small things that nearly took down an entire company

Let’s discuss small things that almost took down an entire team or company. To kick us off, here’s a story that was shared here recently:

About 10 years ago, I was at a job where a huge drama erupted over email signatures that ultimately resulted in a lawsuit.

One day the subcontractor we all worked for sent an email that we had to standardize our email signatures because some people were having too much fun with them and using non-standard colors and fonts. Okay, fine, we thought, we guess we took it too far. The job was very very tedious and messing around with signature blocks (strictly in emails to each other) was one of our few outlets and expressions of individuality.

Which was fine for about two hours, until a follow-up came down from the subcontractor telling us we all had to use the same provided signature block that contained a job title other than what we were … and that’s when everything blew up. Think: we were senior advanced llama groomers, first class, and were being ordered to identify ourselves as llama grooming junior assistants, third class, in all our correspondence.

A couple people began to ask questions and do some googling, and it was gradually revealed that the subcontractor was billing us to the contractor at the higher senior groomer rate but paying us at the much lower junior assistant one (and telling us that was the senior groomer rate!) … and the new email signature was meant to prove to various important people and clients we corresponded with that we were actually junior llama grooming assistants, third class, and to thus justify our low pay scale in the eyes of some people beginning to ask questions during a contracting cycle.

Several people sued; more abnormalities came to light, including that we were entitled by law to PTO in the state we were in, but it had been hidden from us, removed from the handbook, and even hidden inside the timecard software (!).

The chorus of complaints grew very loud, but then everyone in the office was then laid off in several waves across a month or two (no justification provided, just “you’re at will, and it’s our will that you leave now”). Many years later, the lawsuit was dropped, but not until the subcontractor’s name was dragged through the mud and they fell out of favor among contractor llama groomers.

It was a huge mess, caused by a few people using pink Comic Sans fonts that caught the attention of the finance department who then panicked that we might blow the whole billing scheme with our shenanigans.

Well then. Let’s talk about other small things that took down or nearly took down someone or something.

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