posted on April 7, 2001 06:58:43 AM
I just recieved this charming email:
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F.Y.I. "Bargains," not "bargins" is the correct spelling of the word. This discouraged me from purchasing an English book from your organization. Sincerely, An English Teacher
--
Now, I know how to spell "bargains." It's a %#$@&*%! typo! And it appears ONCE, at the very bottom of one page of my website.
I know I should probably just let it go, but I'm in a bad mood today and I'm really offended by the tone of the email.
Opinions?
Rima
[ edited by discoverybooks on Apr 7, 2001 07:03 AM ]
posted on April 7, 2001 07:39:03 AM
"Greetings English Teacher, I normally do not respond to annonomous coorespondance received but I will make an exception to yours due to the friendly tone. Please drop into my site as often as you can, look through each new page I introduce, send me any and all infractions so I do not contribute to the slaughter of The English Language! You are so helpful I bless the day you happened across my humble site.
In the spirit of helpfullness myself I'll point out that F.Y.I. as an acronym is, of course, considered slang usage and not strictly proper with those few of us guarding the mother-tounge.
Your fellow English devotee, Book Seller"
By-the-way...... my children's friends were not allowed to call and grunt; "Is Xxxx home?". I would reply, "Hi. This is Xxxx's Mom, may I have your name? Oh, hi, Xoxo. Next time you call please give your name first like this "Hi, this is Xoxo, may I speak to Xxxx?" Then if there were repeats I'd say "Oh! You forgot your name dear!" and hang up. I know I was annoying to their little friends but they overwhelmingly responded with the required greeting and info. Whoops! I used the slang 'info'...... I hope English Teacher isn't reading this! Mom
posted on April 7, 2001 11:43:33 AM
Discovery, I'll probably get rotten tomatoes thrown at me, but I would be tempted to do the same thing if it were an English textbook (that's what it sounds like from your post)--I wouldn't have done it, but I'd be tempted!! The buyer had no way of knowing that it was a simple typo, because he/she has probably seen quite enough illiteracy on eBay to last a lifetime. I have e-mailed a couple of sellers myself, when I see that their misspelled word(s) would keep their auction from being searched by a prospective buyer. I tried to do it tactfully, because my desire was to help, not cast aspersions on someone's intelligence (or lack thereof).
I wish sellers would first type their description into a program that has spell check, and THEN copy it into their auction. Of course, that wouldn't solve the problem of incorrect apostrophe usage or homonyms, but it would be a great help.
posted on April 7, 2001 12:03:33 PM
mcbrunnhilde - nah, I'm all out of rotten tomatoes today. And thankfully, I'm in a much better mood than when I originally posted this.
Seriously, though -- I would have had absolutely no problem with a polite note saying "hey, there's a misspelled word on your website, you might want to fix it." I'm not the world's best speller, and I sometimes forget to run pages through spellcheck before uploading them. (Hmmm... I guess that means I'm not perfect, either. Drat. )
But I thought this person's tone was quite rude and condesending. And I got even more annoyed when I finally found the typo -- buried deep in a page on my website. If it had been on the auction page, I would have been grateful for the correction -- but sheesh, getting snippy over one word on a website?
Thanks for your imput, everybody. I'll probably just ignore the email and hope this person continues to boycott my business.
<muttered quietly: I love my job. I love my job. I love my job...>
Rima
http://discoverybooks.org
[ edited by discoverybooks on Apr 7, 2001 12:08 PM ]
[ edited by discoverybooks on Apr 7, 2001 12:13 PM ]
posted on April 7, 2001 12:30:55 PM
Write back and thank the person for noticing the typo. I got a great deal helping out another seller who listed her item as "dutch" in the title when it was only one item for sale. It helped her not to make the same mistake the next time she relisted and I got a discounted cd out of the deal. I was wanting the auction item anyhoo.
As far as the rudeness, let that go. Perhaps it makes that English teacher feel important to point out others' boo boos. Must have more time on his/her hands than I do!
posted on April 7, 2001 08:41:47 PM
Hey guys look at it this way. The only contact we have with our customers is on the computer/ e-mail. My sister owns a retail store and when her customers complain they are usually standing in front of her and she has to deal with them in person. When one of my customers is upset I can shut the computer off and go watch TV for a while. Then when I am good and ready I can deal with the offensive customer, or not deal with it. It all depends on my mood
posted on April 8, 2001 02:09:11 AM
discoverybooks -
The dried up old prune probably needs to get...... a life. By the way remember it's i before e except after c (received), I'm sorry I could not help myself........ lol
posted on April 8, 2001 02:25:00 AM
Congratulate her on being the winner of the "Spot The Spelling Mistake" contest and she has restored your faith in the quality of schoolteachers!
Bob, Downunder but never down.
posted on April 8, 2001 05:15:56 AM
tank ye mam fer pointin me mistek ot ta me i hat kwit scol in fort grad cauza me bat bak i reely preshate yer hep haf grat day.
btw i hav grat bok on gramar to if ya wan it leme no k?
posted on April 8, 2001 11:42:54 PM
rarriffle....... it was intended as sarcasm, but can do double duty as a joke, if you like. What was misspelled, in your opinion?
Sit up straight! Don't sit so close to the screen. Be nice to your sister! Mom
posted on April 9, 2001 01:56:04 AM
I thought English teachers were always busy grading English PAPERS!!! Guess they get bored too, and decide to grade every word they read...
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