Email Sent to All-Staff Distribution List Triggers 2,400 Reply-All Responses in Under an Hour

An email sent to the Department of General Services' all-staff distribution list at 9:07 AM Tuesday asking 'Does anyone know whose mug this is in the 3rd floor kitchen?' triggered a cascade of 2,400 reply-all responses that overwhelmed the department's email servers and has been formally classified as a Level 3 Communications Incident. The original message, sent by administrative assistant Karen Inbox, included a photograph of a blue ceramic mug with the words 'World's Okayest Bureaucrat' printed on it. The first reply-all, sent at 9:08 AM, read: 'Not mine.' This was followed by 347 additional 'not mine' replies, 89 replies asking to be removed from the thread, 156 reply-all messages requesting that people stop replying all, and 42 reply-all messages pointing out the irony of using reply-all to ask people to stop replying all. By 9:30 AM, the thread had evolved beyond the mug. Sub-conversations included a debate about kitchen etiquette, a discussion of whether the department should invest in a dishwasher, three separate requests for the departmental potluck schedule, and one employee who used the opportunity to announce his retirement. By 9:47 AM, the email server began rejecting messages due to volume. The IT department declared a Level 3 Communications Incident and disabled the all-staff distribution list. 'This is why we have protocols for all-staff communications,' said Communications Director Debra Memo, who had herself accidentally replied all at 9:12 AM with the message 'Please stop replying all,' which generated 94 replies. The mug remains unclaimed. It has been placed in the Lost and Found, which requires a Form LF-7 to access.