Jesus Loves Me... Even If I Don't Forward This Email

I'm not sure why, but I've never been a fan of those cutesy little forwarded emails. Not the ones about how we're all sisters so let's bask in our girl power. Not the generic forwarded prayers. Not the kittens in baskets (although the puppies and babies can get me a little misty-eyed, depending on the time of the month). It's not that I'm completely cold-hearted, they just seem like a waste of time to me. But the thing that irks me most is when people decide to send these forwards to my work email.

Why?!

There is such a thing as email etiquette, and it is especially important at work. Certain things are simply frowned upon, and for many employers, this is one of them. So if you are a forwarding fanatic, you may want to take the following precautions:

1. Don't send every forward you receive
I promise Jesus will still love you, you still love your country, and your luck will not suddenly spiral. There is no reason to flood someone's inbox with forwards. This is especially true at work, and doubly true for coworkers with whom you don't even regularly associate. Which leads me to...

2. Make sure the receiver wants your forwards
A lot of people do like the little inspirational poems and animated squirrels dancing, but there are some like me who don't. Try not to end up in someone's spam list because you decide you want to share with the whole company. At best, folks will just delete it. At worst, you could end up being reprimanded for abusing company email (depending on the policy there). But there is an easy way to avoid that...

3. Send forwards from your personal email to the receiver's personal email
If you have a couple of people who you share non-work emails with, why not get their personal emails and send them there. That way you get to maintain professionalism on your work email account (which is most likely being monitored anyway) and still share a smile with your friends. Everybody wins!

Are you guilty of being the forwarding friend or coworker? Has it ever been a problem where you work?