Group of strangers bond over reply-all email informing them about their delayed couches

Recipients became invested in finding one woman a date after she mentioned she was single and looking

Group of strangers bond after receiving a reply-all email (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A group of strangers have become bonded after they were all copied in on an email chain about their couch orders.

In November, Jeff DeMars, a Brooklyn resident, ordered a couch from furniture company ABC Carpet & Home, only to receive an email in March alerting him that his order would be delayed until May.

However, as the 32-year-old program coordinator told The Wall Street Journal, he was not alone in receiving the notice, as he was copied into an email that was also sent to 204 other people.

According to DeMars, people began responding to the email chain, which he said he realised immediately was a mistake on the part of the company, at first asking about order refunds and other questions related to the furniture store.

The situation became interesting, however, when one woman in the email chain, Zoe Weiner, 29, responded mentioning that she was single and looking for a Jewish man. 

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“That’s when things got really interesting,” DeMars said.

The reply prompted various responses from other email recipients, who then began to ponder possible men to set Weiner up with, while others wondered whether they would be able to get her engaged before all of their furniture deliveries arrived, according to the outlet.

The chain email also touched on other subjects, including pets, the loss of a cat named Spanky, and the use of the furniture store’s fabric swatches as drink coasters, with some of the amused recipients sharing screenshots of the emails to social media.

The group also discussed the possibility of one day meeting up, with some joking that the time for a get together would be Weiner’s wedding.

As for the company’s response to the error, ABC Carpet & Home sent all of the recipients an email the following day apologising for the situation, while also acknowledging that they had read all of the emails.

“Mistakes are a part of being human – it’s what you do with them that matters,” said the note, with the Wall Street Journal adding: “ABC thanked customers for turning the mistake around for the greater good. In a post-script, the company added it was sorry to hear about Spanky the cat and that it was rooting for Zoe.”

In regards to Weiner’s attempts to find a partner, she told the outlet that she now has two upcoming dates, thanks to the email chain.

“I am far more normal than soliciting setups from 200 complete strangers might imply,” she said. “Pandemic times are tough for a single lady in this city.”

On Twitter, the story of the strangers coming together to commiserate and chat amid the ongoing pandemic has been met with amused and supportive comments, with many readers applauding the sweet story.

“I’m obsessed with this story,” one person tweeted, while another said: “I’m a sucker for a good reply all story. This is the best I’ve seen yet.”

“Talk about building community,” someone else wrote.