Copper
02-06-2008, 08:25 AM
I work at a trade publication. Part of my job is handling orders for back issues, since our magazine isn't available on newsstands. Most of the time the orders are easy--I let them know the price for the back issues, send them a credit card authorization form, and off they go. Then there are the other people. The ones you have trouble believing can turn a computer on without outside help.
Most of the time, I let things pass. This guy was an exception.
His first email was fairly standard, telling me that he couldn't find our magazine on a newsstand. Fair enough.
So I sent him a response saying our back issues were $6.00 each and he had to fill out a credit card authorization form to pay for them.
Then I got this answer:
Thanks for the quick response.
Is there no way to purchase single issues from your firm?
Ok...it's possible that I wasn't clear in my response to him--but wouldn't it occur to him that I wouldn't give him the price of a back issue if I didn't have the ability to mail one to him? I find that probability pretty low since I give the same standard response to everyone who orders back issues. So I tried to be helpful.
My response:
We have copies here--I can mail them to you.
So I figure that's the end of that. Of course about five minutes later, I get this response:
That would be great. I need two copies of the current issue.Could you let me know what amount I should fill out the CC Application form for?
This is where I wanted to bang my head on the desk. Did I forget to mention that the email responses were threaded and all he had to do was scroll up to see that I had already given him that information in the first response I sent him? I would have thought that reading comprehension would be a basic requirement for employment.
But I bit my tongue and sent him this response:
Yes, two issues would be twelve dollars. (It took every fiber of my being not to end it with "you twit.")
Most of the time, I let things pass. This guy was an exception.
His first email was fairly standard, telling me that he couldn't find our magazine on a newsstand. Fair enough.
So I sent him a response saying our back issues were $6.00 each and he had to fill out a credit card authorization form to pay for them.
Then I got this answer:
Thanks for the quick response.
Is there no way to purchase single issues from your firm?
Ok...it's possible that I wasn't clear in my response to him--but wouldn't it occur to him that I wouldn't give him the price of a back issue if I didn't have the ability to mail one to him? I find that probability pretty low since I give the same standard response to everyone who orders back issues. So I tried to be helpful.
My response:
We have copies here--I can mail them to you.
So I figure that's the end of that. Of course about five minutes later, I get this response:
That would be great. I need two copies of the current issue.Could you let me know what amount I should fill out the CC Application form for?
This is where I wanted to bang my head on the desk. Did I forget to mention that the email responses were threaded and all he had to do was scroll up to see that I had already given him that information in the first response I sent him? I would have thought that reading comprehension would be a basic requirement for employment.
But I bit my tongue and sent him this response:
Yes, two issues would be twelve dollars. (It took every fiber of my being not to end it with "you twit.")