Lemondrop

Hey look! A new e-mail! Oooh, it's an invitation ... To a booze cruise. Sent to well over 40 people. The fact that the sender signed the e-mail "Ahoy" really is funny. What a welcome distraction on an otherwise boring afternoon.

Another new e-mail! Oh, it's someone named Mike responding about the booze cruise. "First one in the water gets a sailor hat," he says. Ha.

Inbox: 1 unread message. "Julie" says, "This will be just like last time we all went boating, except hopefully Jeremy won't pull an O'Connell." Oh, man, you have no idea what an "O'Connell" is, but it sounds hee-larious.

Oh look. One from "Ashley." "I'm in, see you there!" she says. Well that was sort of a disappointment.

Okay, enough. You've now wasted a grand total of one and a half minutes reading e-mails from people you don't even know, not counting two more that just popped up.

How can you respond without being a total buzzkill? One woman I know replies with, "Hey all -- just a reminder to reply, not reply-all," and still maintains friendships, but most of us aren't so bold. Maybe you should just ignore it, continue complaining, and use the overzealous e-mails as a conversation starter on said booze cruise. Hmmm ....













Emme Martin is Lemondrop's online etiquette advice columnist.