Mum emailed me earlier today. I had filters set up on gmail, but not on Thunderbird, so I decided to set up a template auto-response filter. I spent an hour trying to make it work and testing it with my sister, and then my techie partner’s help. When it kept returning errors, I eventually decided to delete all the filters and set them up again.

Then I ran it manually to test it.

Not realising that when it worked this time, it would auto-respond to every. Single. Email. My mother has ever sent me over the last decade or so. I checked the filter log, there were PAGES of it.

She now has like 2,000 emails in her inbox, all saying the same ‘please don’t contact me’ auto-reply, and I am flitting between finding it absolutely hysterical and being utterly mortified.

The reason she was contacting me is irrelevant – I asked her to respect that boundary and she has – twice – breached it, hence setting up the auto-reply for any future messages. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I’m focusing on finding it amusing because it stops me feeling so angry about the boundary issues. She just… thinks the rules don’t apply to her. I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed. It was a simple ask – leave me alone until I’m ready to reach out. *sigh*

I’ll do a proper entry soon – there’s a LOT to talk about – but this is a short one for now. x