There was a time in our nation’s history when brave letter carriers would deliver the mail via horseback on the Pony Express. These 19th-century mailmen would have laughed in our faces if we told them that, one day in the future, letters would be delivered to little phones that we carry in our pockets. What about the art of letter-writing? The romance of a missive delivered via a powerful steed? And who would really want letters delivered every three minutes?

Love it or hate it, there’s no debating that the world pretty much runs on email. Unless you’re living in a Salinger-esque hermitage, there’s no way to avoid it. And for the most part, email is a technological advance that has made the world a better (and more communicative) place to live. But there are certain emails that make us long for the pre-Gmail days, or even the Pony Express.

From the dreaded chain letter to the self-promotional spam blast to the “I know we haven’t spoken in over a year but could you do me a favor” message, there are some emails that send shivers down our spines every time we open our inboxes. That’s why we’ve rounded up a list of the emails we all hate to receive — and what you should do to keep from throwing your laptop out the window in frustration.