Q. Some friends persist on displaying our email addresses in large address lists when sending out round robins to all of their friends. How may I tactfully ask them to blind copy me, GDPR and all that? In chain recipe and joke emails, before you know it, there are 200 addresses included: a hacker’s dream, I’m told.
— Name and address withheld
A. Quite right. You need to spell out, to wilful Luddites, the potential nuisances that could arise from not using the ‘Bcc’ box. Next time reply with an email which shows only your own name in the ‘To’ section. Open with a reassurance, clearly meant for all, that everyone on the relevant list is receiving this email, but you have included the other addresses in the ‘Bcc’ box to comply with data protection regulations as well as for the purposes of outwitting fraudsters.
Q. We are socialising again and a weekend looms at the house of a much-loved bachelor friend. Our problem is that he is not known for his high standards of hygiene. This won’t be an issue in the kitchen as I am a professional cook and he is more than happy for me to take the reins there. But Mary, how can I ensure that we have clean sheets to sleep in? I feel it would be a bit heavy-handed to arrive with our own.
— Name and address withheld
A. Ring before setting off and say how much you are looking forward to seeing him. Then add: ‘I know this is an odd question but do you happen to know what brand of detergent you use? I only ask because I’ve developed an allergy to certain brands — they trigger a maddening itching.’
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