Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Elegant Junk



“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
-Albert Einstein

We were forced to give due credit to the fellow: he put time and effort into his project. I regret to note that we will not be requesting his services, but the important thing to remember is that he tried.
I refer to an envelope Spouse received today which, for the handwriting it bore, I was mildly curious about all the day long. I studied the refined, confident penmanship that announced our address; Spouse's name was spelled correctly, and I observed the lack of any return address. I was certain the letter was a fond greeting from somebody who knew us well.
So our collective dismay was justifiably great when Spouse tore open the mystery envelope on his return from work and extracted a single sheet, torn crudely from a newspaper, that advertised a super, staggering, could-not-miss deal at an automotive centre.
A yellow note was stuck to the page: it greeted Spouse warmly by name, like an old friend. The message read "wow, check this out!" accompanied by an indecipherable, affectionately scrawled initial- the decryption of which would have meant nothing to us anyhow, the fellow being a complete stranger and all that.
But, stranger or not, he seems to be an industrious character- he after all succeeded in the rarity of getting us to open the envelope- and we wish him all the best in his chirographic endeavours.

6 comments:

julochka said...

you do have to have a small bit of admiration for creativity, even if it is from a junk mailer. :-)

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Julie, a tiny, miniscule bit :) They have to work too, I suppose.

Pappy said...

It is like the Nigerian people who send letters pleading for just a few of your dollars, or some private identifiers, in order to gain access to some huge sum of money. They of course will share it with you. It seems at times the whole nation is sitting on a treasure chest just waiting for a kind gesture and simple contribution to unlock it. Funny. Pappy

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Texican, oh, yes- first, you must just give your bank account number. I wonder how anybody falls for that sort of scam. They can keep trying, but they won't get me.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

a somewhat time intensive method of to 'bulk mail' advertising - got to give it to the guy for trying....but without a return address, are you sure it was from a complete stranger!

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Kimy, it wasn't from anyone we know ;) I think it was part of a larger scheme that didn't just include us. It surely looked at first like he knew us, but there was nothing to indicate that, just a torn page and an initial.

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