"How about you use a mail client from this century." --IT at a place I worked.

Context: I was using Mutt to do email, and one day I found that Exchange was configured to send only HTML versions of each message. If it received a plain text message, it would convert it to HTML -- including changing things like ":)" into J in Microsoft Symbol font or Webdings or whatever it was. Typically in an HTML mail environment, the plain text and HTML versions would both be sent as separate MIME attachments, but in this setup, only the HTML was included.

I filed a ticket, requesting that plain text messages be enabled so I could read them easily in Mutt. This snippy remark was the only response from IT.

So if you use a client like Mutt, be warned: nobody these days feels any obligation to support your retro email experience.