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As soon as she heard the "beep-beep" of the guy's phone, Renee Bushby realised her mistake.
"I wanted to somehow grab the phone and hit delete, but he was already reaching for it," recalls the 22-year-old PR consultant, from Auckland.
The bitchy text meant for her best friend, about the friend's nasty ex, had accidentally gone to the wrong person - yes, the man himself. Who just happened to be sitting next to Bushby at the time.
"It said something like 'OMG, jst seen X n he is drivin me up th wall, dnt no wat u eva saw in hm,'" says Bushby, who at the time of the text gaffe was a student, and chilling out with a bunch of mates in Albert Park.
"There was an awkward silence, then I said I had to go to the toilet and quickly took off."
Text blunders are a common pitfall in today's communication-obsessed society.
Vodafone's latest user survey asked respondents whether they'd had similar experiences. The results make for cringe-worthy reading, including:
- Sending a message about a person you are in a new relationship with, saying what they think of them, but accidentally sending it to them, rather than the friend it was meant for.
- Sending a text to a mate (male) saying 'I love you and thanks for the great sex' when it was meant to be for new girlfriend.
- Sending a text complaining about how obnoxious friends' children are, but sending it to the parents by mistake.
Luckily for Bushby, the man she "text-offended" was not so nasty as to react inappropriately. "We didn't talk for a while. But it's okay now."
Faux pas like her own happen all the time, she says.
