>>anyone any ideas
> If yes you should you have to use.
>
> SELECT first_name,work_email FROM tb_contacts WHERE
> tb_contacts.work_email <>''
> AND
> tb_contacts.work_email IS NOT NULL;
>
See what happens with
SELECT first_name, work_email, LENGTH(COALESCE(work_email, ''))
FROM tb_contacts
WHERE LENGTH(TRIM(COALESCE(work_email, ''))) = 0