Think long and hard about an idea before advocating it

I don’t know if you’ve seen these idiot e-mails going around calling on us to boycott the largest oil company petrol stations to “force down” the price of petrol.

This idea is utter bollocks for loads of reasons: UK petrol is mostly tax anyway, forecourt price is a function of world crude prices, buyers do not “control” markets etc the concept is full of holes.

So this dopey girl in accounts forwards this e-mail to a few of us, and I simply write back outlining the flaws in the logic. Anyway she totally goes into one, saying I’m trying to make her look stupid, plus some really pleasant personal abuse. But the truth is, if you forward an e-mail which espouses an idea that is nonsense without thinking, then really, you are making yourself look stupid.

There’s a lesson there about thinking for yourself, rather than just accepting what you are told. Sure it might sting a bit right now, but it’s a good lesson, is she cares to learn it.