"but someone read an insult into it, for whatever reason, and made a complaint about it"
Some people seem only capable of taking offense at anything and everything, and then complaining loudly in order that nobody dare ask "what the hell is actually wrong with this?".
Been there, done that, and after my mandatory telling off, I sent the entire email conversation to HR demanding an explanation. Oddly enough, the whole thing was quietly dropped. I guess they didn't find anything offensive either. I set up an email filter that directed anything from them to HR (after warning HR). Turns out that they realised pretty quickly that mail to me wasn't getting through, so they apparently began unloading on me (and clearly confusing me with somebody else, given I'm not a dumb blonde with tits, but a brown haired (at the time) bloke), and then insulting everybody else. Unaware that somebody WAS reading the messages. And, I hope, taking bets as to who would be in the firing line this time.
Some people...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
