I open my file explorer. I click on the external drive. My brain goes on autopilot. I right-click the "Q3_Assets" folder, hit "Compress," and drag it into Outlook.

If you need me, I’ll be deleting my entire digital footprint and moving to a cabin in Montana. Send letters. Not emails.

For those of you who don’t speak timestamp, that’s November 30, 2021. A simpler time. A pre-holiday chaos time. I clicked it open out of morbid curiosity.

I say, "Absolutely, give me two seconds."

She says, "Can you send me the raw assets from the Q3 shoot? The ones on the server are corrupted."

Don't drag and drop files named "MyFamilyPies 21 11 30 Sybil" into an email to your boss. Just delete the file. Burn the hard drive. Run away. Have you ever sent a text or email to the wrong person? Make me feel better in the comments. Please.

I need to get this off my chest. I’ve been turning it over in my head like a rock tumbler, and I think the only way to stop the nausea is to write it down. So, here goes. This is the story of how I accidentally sent the file named to the absolute worst person possible. The Setup (The Boring Part) Let’s rewind. I’m a creature of habit. I work from home, I have two monitors, and my digital hygiene is usually pristine . I have folders for everything: "Work_2023," "Taxes," "Wedding_Photos," and… "Archive."

Then Janet replied.