What to Say Immediately After Sending a Message to the Wrong Person
Nothing will make your heart beat faster than realizing that you just sent a message to the wrong person. It happens to the best of us and it’s a mistake you can’t fix – the recipient will read it. These are the facts and you cannot change them.
(Well, you can unsend messages on some platforms – Instagram and Gmail , for example; and if you’re sending an iMessage that you didn’t intend to send, you can put your phone in airplane mode before the text is delivered. Most likely not works, but worth a try
But you have a choice of what to do next: you can be honest about it or lie about it. Here are some examples of what to say anyway.
If you want to be honest, say something like this
Admitting you’re wrong can be difficult, especially if you’ve scolded someone and accidentally sent them a text about them , or if you’re working with a person who received your wrong message or careless nudity. To make things right, you may just have to be humble and direct.
Start with something short, like “Wrong chat. It wasn’t for you. Sorry about that.”
If the message was explicit or embarrassing, put in a little more effort: “Ah, this is so embarrassing, but that was meant for someone else. I apologize for involving you, and I would really appreciate it if we could keep it under wraps.”
Perhaps the worst-case scenario, short of possibly posting a nudity to a family group chat, is to send an offensive message directly to its thread. If you send a message to your colleague Jill on Slack that says “God, Jill never shuts up about her stupid, ugly chihuahua” or something like that, you can’t just say, “Hey, that wasn’t for you “. Jill is well aware that it wasn’t for her, so you’ll just have to eat it this time.
Say, “Hi Jill. I’m sorry about that. I’m in a bad mood today, but I shouldn’t have insulted you or Scrappy (he’s adorable!). Today I find it difficult to concentrate and your conversation distracts me, but this is no excuse for such rudeness.
How to lie about sending a message to the wrong person
There’s an old saying that honesty is the best policy, but whoever came up with it never had to wait to rent with a roommate after accidentally texting them about how dirty and annoying they are. Sometimes outright lying is the best choice, even if you’re pretty sure the person receiving the message knows you’re lying.
If your message didn’t contain too many incriminating clues, you can shift the blame to someone else. Let’s say there’s a big demonstration in your town because a heartless company is trying to tear down an old library and build a dollar store. Imagine that you are going to write to a friend from another city: “I don’t care at all. This is a library. So what? I’m sick of these demonstrators clogging the movement.” Now imagine that you accidentally sent it to another friend – someone who really cares about preserving libraries.
The simple fix is the following message: “My friend Wayne just sent me this. Can you believe how insensitive he is? It just shows what we’re up against here.”
In this case, you’re pretending to copy and paste it from someone else to show how terrible they are. Yes, you are spinning a nasty web of lies and involving an innocent person, but if you choose to lie, you must get your hands dirty.
Or try a trusted reserve: “Hey haha, sorry! My brother took my phone while I was in the bathroom and sent random messages to people.” It worked in eighth grade and will (somewhat) work now.
Or why not try gaslighting? Hit them with “Just kidding!” You weren’t joking and they probably know it, but you can absolutely tell you were joking.
After all, if you’re going to lie, give yourself a few seconds to come up with a decent lie. Typing nonsense within seconds of submitting won’t help your case. Remember, the deed is done and you cannot undo it. Your next move should be strategic, not reckless.