"Reply," Bad; "Reply All," Worse

Of these ten ways employees and bosses can learn to keep their cool in today's recession-straine workplaces, "stay away from the keyboard" stands out:

"It is too easy to fire off a sarcastic or hostile response" with a nasty email, says Laurence Stybel, executive-in-residence at the Suffolk University School of Management and Entrepreneurship in Boston. "Once the 'send' button is pushed, the message is out of your control, and you can't deny having made the comments."

Consider Carol Bartz, the former Yahoo chief executive who, after being ousted, subsequently fired off an email telling the entire company she had been "fired over the phone" by Yahoo's chairman. That didn't do her reputation or her future job prospects any good.

"When there is an emotional situation, email is the worst way to handle it," says Goman. "The way the person on the other end receives it is totally out of your control."