What could be a simple message to your boss has turned into an Internet moment due to the boss’s wife’s surprising response.
The screenshot shows a WhatsApp conversation in which an employee begins by messaging her boss with a simple "Hi Boss."
And when she gets a response, she replies with some rather surprising news: “I’m pregnant…”
The employee then explains that she needs a few days of leave to talk about what is going on with her boyfriend and asks her boss to approve the leave.
At first sight it’s all very clear work request. But the boss’s response completely alters the tone of the conversation.
"Make sure to talk about this with my wife," he says. “She read your first couple of messages…”
The message is followed by another complaint that has made the screenshot so funny.
The boss asks why the employee could not type everything in a single message instead of sending several separate messages.
This joke seems to be based on the employee’s opening line and the deceptive way the messages arrive. Because the employee says “I’m pregnant…” before explaining she is talking about her own situation and her boyfriend, the boss’s wife is obviously suspicious after seeing the first messages.
The screenshot is a good example of how casual conversation becomes awkward when messages are read in total context.
One message causes a great misunderstanding
The humor is largely due to the timing of the messages. The employee first announces the pregnancy and only after explains that she needs leave to discuss it with her boyfriend.
It may be very different from what the employee wanted for anyone reading only the first few messages.
The boss’s reference to his wife adds another layer to the joke, making what started as a leave request a domestic conflict with its own domesticity.
The last line about sending everything in one message also resonates with anyone who has received multiple short messages that could have been combined into one.
Why do screenshots go viral
As office-related memes and chat screenshots have become very popular on social media that turn everyday stuff into funny stories. You can relate to the workplace conversations (boss, colleague and leave request) and most people can relate to it too.
This screenshot also illustrates the importance of context in digital communication. A single sentence can sound quite different from the messages before it.
The screenshot seems to be one of the funniest things you have seen, the fact that it’s a comedy is not news, but you can see that the screenshot itself is funny so to share with social media users.
And the exchange also shows at least in meme form that when sending sensitive or potentially confusing information over chat, context matters.
And sometimes typing everything in one message really can save everyone from an awkward misunderstanding.
