Microsoft Outlook?

Question

Hi-
Today at work, my team lead stated that I had not sent her an email that I
was suppose to have sent. I told her that we could go to my desk and show her
my sent box, where I had indeed sent it to her and I could forward the
original. We go to my desk, I log in and show her the sent items. I sort the
mail. Scroll down to all of the messages I have sent to her and show her the
message that I sent to her on Wednesday. She then says that I doctored it.
I need to know if this is even possible while working in a very secure
environment.
(I work for a bank)
Please any information anybody could give me would really be appreciated.
--
simone

Answer 1

It is smart to keep good records of communications. Including verbal requests, orders, and your action or response, no matter who you work for. Good records always trump he said she said arguments.

Do you need to pursue this to a possible explosive result? You and she both know she is lying. There should be a graceful way out of this without public humiliation and without becoming mortal enemies. You do not want to become your boss's enemy or get a reputation as a hot head.. What do you need to end this conflict? What would want if you were her? Most companies intensely dislike becoming involved in personal conflicts. Conflicts tend to hurt morale of all members of the team. Teams that succeed and can solve problems get more new and better opportunities. Teams that bicker amongst themselves get disbanded.

If she is publicly going out of her way to tell others you are a liar then you probably need to protect/clear your reputation. Preferably as discreetly as possible.

If she said this privately it may or may not be a big deal, (she may have been just embarrassed or green to admit a mistake, or perhaps she was evaluating your response) hopefully both will grow from this bad experience. You should keep a copy of the documentation at work and at home to back your version of events, in case it does become a big deal. Never use either to threaten.

Never ever mention the home copy to anyone else unless you consult with your lawyer first. The bank probably would view you as a bad apple who is laying the groundwork to sue the bank and the bank could claim keeping documents at home is against bank policy and fire you.

The IT department almost certainly logs a copy of every email, the date the time, the sender, and the distribution list. This could be used to prove your version of events.

Answer 2

I agree with Kwilfort. Outlook won't let you edit the content of a sent item without forwarding it to someone. You could change the time of your computer and then send a message which would result in a different "sent time". However, on your bosses computer the "received time" would be what her clock is set to.

For example - let's say you changed the date/time on your clock to read March 23 at 3:00 p.m. and the actual time was March 23 at 5:00 p.m., your computer would say it was sent at 3:00 p.m. and your boss' computer would say it was received at 5:00 p.m.

Does she have a superior you could talk to? If not, maybe someone in Human Resources?

Because you work at a bank this could be fraud on her part.

I wish you all the best.

Answer 3

Sounds like your team lead screwed up and is trying to Cover it up. She probably accidentally deleted the message.