Thursday, November 20, 2008

I politely decline your invitation. . .

Since starting this blog, I have made an e-mail account to go along with it. You can see it over in the sidebar under the "Contact Me" box. ---->

Now, usually, this is a neat little thing to have. I loved the fact that as soon as I set it up, Doc A sent me a quick e-mail saying hey. I love when I get updates telling me someone new is following me on twitter. I love sitemeter's e-mails telling me that people actually come to this site and check things out. And I welcome any e-mails from friends who want to say hi!

But sometimes, having an e-mail like this is bad news bears, because it means people you don't want contacting you can contact you anyway. But I guess that's why I wanted a seperate e-mail for the blog? An e-mail account that could take a bullet for my real one by accepting impersonal advertisements and offers etc. etc...

Alot of you know what I'm talking about. But let me clarify.

A certain website contacted me awhile back telling me that they loved my blog and that they wanted to feature my blog and have me blog for them blah blah blah. No, I will not tell you what website, but if you follow me on twitter, or you're a medblogger who has had "trouble" with them as well, you probably know. Now, I knew I'd seen this company before and that I wasn't too happy with it then. So when they e-mailed me, I was cautious. I don't want anything to do with them or their website. So I ignored their "invitation".

Just today, I logged into my g-mail to check my mail (of course!) and I had another e-mail from the same site, inviting me yet again to be a part of their "community".

I felt like ignoring them, yeah. But I also felt mad. I know the sorts of things they do, and I don't approve of their ways of doing things. So I e-mailed them back. Better to be proactive about these things, right? The best way to fix a problem is not to sit on your keister and wait for it to go away or pretend it's not there. The best way to fix a problem is to do something about it. (most of the time anyway, I can't guaruntee "doing something about it" will work with every problem)

My e-mail to them:

Dear _______,

I hereby decline the offer. This is not the sort of thing I would like to participate in at all. So no thank you. And if you even read my blog, you would know that the closest I have ever gotten to working in a hospital was during my acting gig, and that I don't really blog a whole lot about health related issues. I'm planning on going to medical school, yeah, but honestly? right now, my blog is one of a community college student who dreams of being a doctor and lives in her mother's basement, and the social interactions that ensue. So please do not contact me again about this. Your company is one with which I would not like to be affiliated. Do not link to my site, use any of my information, or "set up a profile" for me. The e-mail was very flattering, but (and I use this term figuratively) I'm not buying it.

Very sincerely,


Mary
Student / Unemployed Freeloader
Living in my mom's basement, Inc.

9 comments:

Vijay said...

Well done. Personally, I think your reply is a little too polite, especially given your freeloader status ;)

Anonymous said...

Love it. It's so you. lol Your status makes me giggle. It's awesome. Well done. Something like that I would've just ignored and trashed.

Jenna said...

I was laughing out loud & said, "Mary is funny!" Chris looked at me & gufawed and said, "Yea, Mary is funny!" ... as in, duh Mom, why are you so late to that realization?

A Wannabe Travelwriter said...

I used to get flattered when I got offers like that as comments to a blog post until I discovered the vast numbers of blogs that are basically ads without content, hence they wanted to use mine.

Living in a basement...hmmmm, sounds like a good place to store wine.

Mary said...

VJ- Haha, too polite?! Well I'll fix that if they contact me again.

Panda- Thanks! And yeah, I ignored the first one and it got me no where. So I dealt with it.

Jenna- Hahahaha! I feel so popular when I'm at your house! hee hee. I'm glad someone finds me funny!

Frank- Thanks for stopping by man! Lol, yeah, the e-mail was pretty flattering, but I had heard about them before and seen the scummy stuff they do. To borrow a phrase from Leif, they're a bunch of hacks. And, yeah, basements are good for storing all sorts of things. Hahaha, figures your mind would jump to wine. But I keep my basement stocked with awesome. Hee hee.

Jeffrey said...

ure a rising star! :) get used to the popularity

Travis and Lisa said...

Why can't I be as funny as you?

Vijay said...

Lisa: It requires a special talent and an extra funny bone ;)

Anonymous said...

good for you, mary. solicitations get worse from here--just wait a few years.
stick to your principles and you'll get far. hopefully you'll get to move out of your mom's basement too!!! :-)