Whether it be at work or on a family or friend group email chain, accidentally hitting “Reply All” can turn a joke intended for one sibling or co-worker into the main topic at the office, HR meeting or dinner table. The repercussions can be even worse if you are a large company like Swiss Federal Railways (SBB): workers have revealed the firm accidentally invited 13.000 people to a cocktail party.

SBB invites 13.000 guests to apéritif 

According to Watson, 13.000 employees of Switzerland’s largest public transport provider were surprised to receive an email invite to an apéritif, due to be held at the SBB restaurant at WylerPark in Bern on June 7. In each email, SBB said, "Your daily commitment and your services for our customers fill us with pride…we would like to thank you very much for this during an apéritif and toast with you."

However, before the 13.000 started to get suited and booted for the occasion - perhaps wondering how the SBB restaurant would cope with more than 13.000 glasses of prosecco - employees started to receive a somewhat awkward reply. As it turns out, while it is one of the best companies to work for according to LinkedIn, SBB were perhaps not as proud of their workforce as once assumed, with most of the 13.000 unceremoniously uninvited in a follow-up email.

Dodgy spreadsheet to blame for massive SBB party

Speaking to Watson, a spokesperson for SBB said that the celebration was only meant for workers at WylerPark and Bollwerk in Canton Bern. Instead, the entire production passenger transport division of the company was invited, regardless of whether they lived in the defacto-capital, in Zurich, Basel, Geneva or up in the mountains.

In the rejection email, SBB said that they “would like to apologise in all forms” to those accidentally invited. According to the spokesperson, the error was caused by the company using the wrong spreadsheet when inviting people - their trains may be some of the most punctual on earth, but maybe their Google Drive needs a spring clean.

It also remains to be seen if any of the other regional departments of SBB will be treated to a cocktail soon, now that they know of the apéritif in Bern.

Thumb image credit: Shutterstock.com / Micheal Derrer Fuchs