Friday, September 04, 2009

I was majorly insulted today

Today, my department at the day job received a letter from one of our donors. This was addressed at us personally, not at our employer. One of my co-workers thought it would be nice to send someone a picture of our entire department. This was someone she’d been conversing with frequently on a friendly basis. The person wrote a long letter back and told us that all of us but two need to lose weight. (At least three of the people in the picture are super skinny.) Not only did he say that, he enclosed a pornographic newspaper showing nude and almost nude overweight people. He said he was trying to “help” us. He also seemed to suggest that if we, the individuals, ate less, that we could personally help his country. I suppose he means that we eat so much that the money we save by not eating could feed a lot of their people. I was very insulted. So were most of my co-workers. We can’t do or say anything to this person. But we’re pissed! How rude is that? We don’t want to be overweight. We didn’t set out to be overweight. At least four of us have low thyroids and are under doctor’s treatment. When I got thin for awhile, it was like having another job. I exercised several hours a day. It took longer to cook and plan my meals. I let my writing slide, and thus went several steps backward in my writing career. Plus I was promoted to a position with more responsibility, more stress, and more hours. I need to find a happy balance but it’s tough. We would be healthier if we lost weight. At least I think I would be. Let me only speak for myself. I’d like to lose weight and get fit again. However, that is between me and my doctor. It’s none of that idiot’s business! You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

7 comments:

Cking said...

Oh my *insert expletive here*!!

I can't believe some one had the gall to do that! What do you even say to/about something like that? I sincerely hope the person that was conversing with that...I can't say man, because no true man would do what he did...is no longer conversing with him.

Ugh! The audacity of people today, I swear!

The Bumbles said...

Why can't you address this? Did you show it to your employer? That is extremely rude. I don't know what line of work you are in there - you mention donor - so I assume this person provides $ that is needed? Not at that price. There are ways to encourage people to improve their health without being an ass.

Unknown said...

What a wanker. 'Not worth thinking about Ashley - those sort never are. What goes around comes and and he'll get his in triplicate

Unknown said...

How horribly rude. Like Amarinda said it's not worth thinking about. Obviously this donor has issues with himself and needs to put others down.

Annette Brownlee said...

It's tough to decide how to handle it when people behave badly. One one hand you want to ignore it and not let it bother you, even though it may. On the other hand you want to see them receive some sort of retribution and then of course there's the realization that this person obviously has some real problems or they wouldn't be behaving like that. I'm sorry you had to deal with such a jerk but know that you're a wonderful writer and person and appreciated for who you are!

Unknown said...

We are a customer service department for a charity - hence donors.

I didn't mention it before, but the man says he's a priest. Now, we wonder why a priest would even look at that stuff much less send it to anyone.

I'm afraid my boss would come down on the person who was engaging in the correspondence. I'm manager so maybe he'd come down on me, too, for not stopping it (not that I knew about it). Mainly, I feel protective toward my staff. They're my second family.

But we always have to be very careful to be cordial and professional when we're representing our employer, so if they even thought we responded in a less than exemplary way, we could be in trouble.

I have instructed my employee not to have anything else to do with that person.

Unknown said...

For over a year this guy has represented himself as a priest. He sent a picture of himself in a priest's flock. I'm not Catholic, so I don't necessarily expect people who say they are priests to be holy. Maybe I'm just questioning in general.

This guy is in Africa, so I don't think it would do any good to report him to authorities. Other than maybe the church, we don't have jurisdiction there. In one way I'd like to report him to his church, but then my employer might get involved and that would be messy.

I'll have a talk with my coworker again to make double, triple sure she doesn't respond back in any way.

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