"Mr. MacDonald compared the unneeded e-mail to commercial spam, which often comes in the form of solicitations for pornographic Web sites or financial scams. He referred to the internal business e-mail menace as 'occupational spam.' Forwarded jokes and chain letters are the most common problems, he said, as are unnecessary e-mail replies."
—Tim Lemke, "Workers wasting hours on e-mail," The Washington Times, April 24, 2001
The scourge of
occupational spam also goes by two other names:
office spam and
workplace spam, with the latter being the more popular of the two as well as being the oldest of the three phrases:
"Growing Numbers Becoming Upset By Bad Taste of Workplace Spam," headline, Chicago Tribune, February 9, 1998
