Ketchup, dry-clean bill and e-mails! |
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Published
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Sun, 19 Jun 2005 02:20
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Law firm Baker & McKenzie's Richard Phillips is in the soup over some ketchup stains on his trousers. The lawyer's demand of a £4 dry cleaning bill from secretary Jenny Amner, who was responsible for spilling the offending ketchup on Mr. Phillips trousers, has set the London legal circles abuzz with dark humor.
The E-mail sent by Mr. Phillips on May 25, said, "Hi Jenny. I went to a dry cleaners at lunch and they said it would cost £4 to remove the ketchup stains. If you cd let me have the cash today, that wd be much appreciated."
| Mrs. Amner did not respond to this e-mail as it turned out that her mother was seriously ill and later passed away. Furious that his e-mail had not gotten a response, Phillips left a yellow post-it note on Mrs. Amner's desk.
As soon as she returned to the firm, Mrs. Amner found the e-mail as well as the note and responded by writing, "I must apologize for not getting back to you straight away but due to my mother's sudden illness, death and funeral I have had more pressing issues than your £4. I apologize again for accidentally getting a few splashes of ketchup on your trousers. Obviously your financial need as a senior associate is greater than mine as a mere secretary. Having already spoken to and shown your email and Anne-Marie's note to various partners, lawyers and trainees in ECC&T and IP/IT, they kindly offered to do a collection to raise the £4. I however declined their kind offer but should you feel the urgent need for the £4 it will be on my desk this afternoon. Jenny."
Mrs. Amner then forwarded this e-mail to various colleagues and as is obvious this was circulated throughout London's legal firms. People are still forwarding it and are adding footnotes like, "This guy should emigrate."
The law firm sought to can the furore generated by the e-mails and issued a statement saying, "We confirm we are aware of the incident and subsequent e-mail exchange. This is a private matter between two members of staff that clearly got out of hand. We are investigating so as to resolve it as amicably as we can. As I am sure you understand we respect the privacy of our staff and make it a policy not to comment on individuals to the media."
Both Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Amner were unavailable for comment. This is not the first time that e-mails have come back to haunt commercial establishments, in 2000 another London law firm, Norton Rose was in the midst of e-mail backlash when Claire Swire, an employee, sent an e-mail to a colleague describing a sex act. The e-mail was forwarded million times over.
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