It’s a rare person indeed who hasn’t had the sort of “fat finger” moment that involves sending a text or email to an unintended recipient. Stories abound about the sort of havoc wreaked by such happenings. I’m having a hot and cold moment now thinking about a few of my own. An unfortunate employee at RR Donnelley has added to the list with a spectacular fat finger fail that is going to be right up there in the annals of modern whoopsy moments. Everyone surely knows the story by now, it’s been leading the news for understandable reasons: the early release of its latest financial report resulted in trading in Google’s shares being suspended, after $20bn was wiped off the company’s market cap. The gods have indeed looked unkindly on Donnelley. I mean, of all the companies to make this sort of mistake on! It could only have been more high-profile had it been Apple or Facebook. Coincidentally, I’d been talking to someone about stress levels in print earlier the same day. While this industry has many pressures, not least constant deadlines, it’s hardly open heart surgery or bomb disposal. That said, the employee at RR Donnelley responsible for this gaffe is probably involved in a personal equivalent of The Hurt Locker right now. There is a certain irony in all of this. Google is able to pin the blame on Donnelley for yesterday’s events. But, fundamentally, the market was reacting to the information contained in the statement, which wasn’t that great. The big problem was that the usual media management and investor briefing bit didn’t go according to schedule. And, as one seasoned company director pointed out to me this morning, risk is all about reward. Printcos handle some pretty peppy information, and yet margins in many areas have been squeezed to the bone. Resulting in a situation where enormous reputational risk comes with very little reward indeed. I feel confident in saying that more than one print boss will be checking the small print on their professional indemnity insurance because of these events, so at least one good thing could come of it. No doubt “lessons will be learned” at RRD so this sort of blooper can’t possibly happen again. But as we all know, where there are humans, there’s likely to be human error. We can’t ever get away from that.