diff --git a/frappe/__init__.py b/frappe/__init__.py
index fe008f82c9..20c96e4c60 100644
--- a/frappe/__init__.py
+++ b/frappe/__init__.py
@@ -1470,6 +1470,15 @@ def get_version(doctype, name, limit = None, head = False, raise_err = True):
 def ping():
 	return "pong"
 
+
+def safe_encode(param, encoding = 'utf-8'):
+	try:
+		param = param.encode(encoding)
+	except Exception:
+		pass
+	return param
+
+
 def safe_decode(param, encoding = 'utf-8'):
 	try:
 		param = param.decode(encoding)
@@ -1479,4 +1488,4 @@ def safe_decode(param, encoding = 'utf-8'):
 	
 def parse_json(val):
 	from frappe.utils import parse_json
-	return parse_json(val)
+	return parse_json(val)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frappe/email/queue.py b/frappe/email/queue.py
index e20b221a6f..80fce6ab1d 100755
--- a/frappe/email/queue.py
+++ b/frappe/email/queue.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from six.moves import range
 import frappe
 from six.moves import html_parser as HTMLParser
 import smtplib, quopri, json
-from frappe import msgprint, throw, _
+from frappe import msgprint, throw, _, safe_decode
 from frappe.email.smtp import SMTPServer, get_outgoing_email_account
 from frappe.email.email_body import get_email, get_formatted_html, add_attachment
 from frappe.utils.verified_command import get_signed_params, verify_request
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ def prepare_message(email, recipient, recipients_list):
 		message = message.replace("<!--recipient-->", recipient)
 
 	message = (message and message.encode('utf8')) or ''
-	message = frappe.safe_decode(message)
+	message = safe_decode(message)
 	if not email.attachments:
 		return message
 
diff --git a/frappe/model/utils/user_settings.py b/frappe/model/utils/user_settings.py
index 2045e3a5b2..84ae3d9ee7 100644
--- a/frappe/model/utils/user_settings.py
+++ b/frappe/model/utils/user_settings.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def update_user_settings(doctype, user_settings, for_update=False):
 def sync_user_settings():
 	'''Sync from cache to database (called asynchronously via the browser)'''
 	for key, data in iteritems(frappe.cache().hgetall('_user_settings')):
-		doctype, user = key.split('::')
+		doctype, user = frappe.safe_encode(key).split('::') # WTF?
 		frappe.db.sql('''insert into __UserSettings (user, doctype, data) values (%s, %s, %s)
 			on duplicate key update data=%s''', (user, doctype, data, data))