Another ‘day at the office’
Occasionally, people get upset at me.
When it’s about something that I’ve written for the paper, it’s part of a phenomenon known to those in the business of journalism as a “day at the office.”
Last week, I had a “day at the office.”
One annoyed reader came to my office to confront me face-to-face and vent his consternation. He plainly told me he was not happy to meet me, but he shook my hand anyway. After, he walked out with a respectful nod and a handshake. The world could use more people who get upset, address their concerns with the person who upset them and walk away with a handshake. Oh, that I would be so lucky.
Sometimes my “days at the office” include what a former boss of mine codenamed “nastygrams.”
A nastygram combines the nauseating effects of the singing telegram with the frontal assault of a strongly worded nasty note left on a bathroom mirror or computer monitor. Typically, a nastygram is sent as an e-mail, lying in wait with subject lines that do no justice to the artful prose contained within.
Here are two such notes, in all their glory (edited to protect identity):
Subject: Artical on …
I would like to let you know how disturbed I was after reading your article yesterday!
I didn’t see where you focused on the story in which you telling all of Ennis the dirt on this one family!
You may have just destroyed this man’s life by publishing his mug shot on the front page of your paper.
I cant seem to grasp where you are getting all of your information from other than our own corrupted police department!
I noticed that either you failed to print or were never told that the judge in this case is …
(Insert wild allegations, unattributed claims and baseless suppositions here)
I would strongly urge you to take a deep look into your resources and make sure that the information you are compiling is true, accurate, and only facts regarding your story before you decide to ruin another families life!
I would love to see you publish something about the corrupted city officials and advise ALL of Ennis of something more meaningful!!!!
I’ll tell you right now, Anonymous Reader, I’m all ears. You sound like you have an amazing story full of facts and verifiable information on your hands, and we would do back flips to get that kind of information into our paper. I smell a Pulitzer.
On to the other note:
Nick,
I don’t know how long you have been doing the reports for the news paper,
BUT WHY do you have to print things that are NOT relevant to the story in which you are writing about??????????????
I feel that if this was such a TOP story that it made the front page of your crappy little news paper you could have STAYED focused on the FACTS and NOT irrelevant issues! I’m glad I didn’t waste the $1.00 to buy your garbage for a story!!!!
I would strongly suggest that you stay focused on the TRUE FACTS of the story and STOP adding your own little tid bits looking to get great reviews!
This story only made YOU look like a COMPLETE FOOL, like some of the other stories you have written. Try looking for a different line of work, like maybe a car sales, then you can get away with telling stories!!!!!!
Signed:
Game On
Dear “Game On,” I’m glad you didn’t waste $1 on a paper that still costs $0.50, because then you’d really have been sore. Also, comparing me to a used car salesman is an insult to used car salesmen everywhere.
Nick Todaro isn’t going to try to sell any used cars anytime soon, don’t worry. He can be reached at nick@ennisdailynews.com, but be aware he might publish what you send him. Fair warning.
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