Thursday, October 02, 2003
Some F*cking People Ain't Worth a Cookie!
There are some people in the world who shouldn't die before someone has taken them to an empty field and beaten the crap out of them! One such person is the woman who runs this email newsletter I receive. There are days when I look around and think people are truly amazing. Then there are days like today. This woman is one of those who reminds me of some of the uglier things involved with being a human.
OK, so let me backtrack a bit. The newsletter is for a british soap (Eastenders). There is a small, but loyal audience for the show here in the States. Public broadcasting stations carried the show in most major cities. As time went by, the number of stations carrying diminished. Then came digital cable and satellite dishes. The BBC has a cable station that airs in the US, BBC America. They air the current episodes being seen in the UK. Well, current as in about 3 weeks behind. However, that's preferable to the 2 or 3 years behind like the PBS stations.
Anyway, because the audience for the show is fairly small in the first place and not everybody has satellite or digital cable, the ratings for the show were very low. BBC America decided to drop the show from its lineup. The fans are truly pissed and there are petitions and letter writing campaigns underway.
Now, if you EVER want to know what kind of people to NOT make angry, right at the top of the list is SOAP OPERA VIEWERS! Long story short, thousands of people are making copies of the show on videotape, DVD, and CD. America is about to be flooded with bootleg Eastenders. So that leads me to the EVIL FAT BITCH that we can call Gayle!
She's one of those people who through the miracle of cutting and pasting distributes a weekly newsletter to fans. In this newsletter will be: comments from fans in the form of emails that she pastes in; news articles; photos of the actors. Of course the news articles are rare for this show and its actors in this country, so they are treasured bits of info. Treasured that is, until you've read the article for the 5th time!! You see, the EVIL ONE gets carried away with that pasting thing. 6 people send in an article; so pastes it in the newsletter all 6 times.
Alrighty, back to the bootlegging! Fans have formed tape trains. They work this way: You tape a show, mail it to Joe. Joe watches the tape, mails it to Jane. Jane watches the tape, sits it on the coffee table, goes off on a two-week all-inclusive vacation to the Bahamas, comes back and packs to move, misplaces the tape and generally gets pretty snooty when the next recipient emails to say "Hey, I was supposed to get that tape 5 weeks ago!"
Gayle aka SELF-IMPORTANT DEMENTED COW offered those in the weekly chat the grand and glorious opportunity to join her tape train. To hell with anyone who wasn't in the chat room. One sweet but slightly addled senior citizen wrote and requested she be placed on the mailing list. The DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS gets angry because I referred a fellow fan to her. Mind you, this woman was a regular member of the newsletter . . . well until I messed up her mailing controls in an attempt to block out junkmail. Alright, not messed it up exactly. But when you start opening your email to specific senders, you're bound to leave someone or several someones out.
The woman throws a genuine hissy fit when she writes the sweet elderly woman and sees before her eyes "The recipient is not accepting email from you." I explain the situation, apologize and then she gets gets nasty about it all. Read highlights -- yes, I too have THE POWER of performing the cutting and pasting miracle -- in her own malevolent words:
[[ But I'm a soft touch and figured I would add her on. However, when I attempted to respond to her request, I received a note from AOL saying she is not accepting e-mail from me. So, that pretty much clinched it and I changed my mind. I will not be adding her to the tape train. This is my final decision. She had her chance but chose not to accept my e-mail. I cannot have people on this a tape train of this magnitude who are foolish enough to refuse e-mail from me.
Gayle]]
Seems like there should be something in there at the end like I, THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS ONE HAVE SPOKEN! So I write her back because I'm an east coast gal and we don't take no sheeeee-yat like chumps!
(angelic harp music)
[[Gayle, While visiting her, I reset her email controls. She was getting loads of junkmail. I showed her how to add in new people, but she's 72 and not the most computer/internet literate person you'll ever come across. I have things all settled out on my train and I added her to my list. I couldn't make her any promises last night because I wasn't 100% on everything.
Sorry for the confusion. I didn't understand that only the chat room guests were being invited as there was so much to read and so much talking going on. I thought newsletter people in general would be welcome to contact you. The email situation was MY fault, not Penelope's ]]
ALRIGHT, SO THAT WAS NICE. BUT LIKE I SAID -- I'M FROM THE EAST COAST BEEEEYATCH!
[[Gayle, I realize that you're probably very stressed out with all the recent happenings as they relate to Eastenders and all the extra emails you've been receiving. However, I would sincerely ask that you not take it out on me or Penelope. We're EE fans too and don't deserve such curtness. I was in error and apologize, but lighten up. No need to be so testy on the subject.
Again, I will take care of her and have already told her so.]]
Nahhh, nahhhh, that ain't all of it. I'm just getting sleepy. Stay tuned for Part II of this donnybrook!
:: settles down to a bag of M&Ms ::
OK, so let me backtrack a bit. The newsletter is for a british soap (Eastenders). There is a small, but loyal audience for the show here in the States. Public broadcasting stations carried the show in most major cities. As time went by, the number of stations carrying diminished. Then came digital cable and satellite dishes. The BBC has a cable station that airs in the US, BBC America. They air the current episodes being seen in the UK. Well, current as in about 3 weeks behind. However, that's preferable to the 2 or 3 years behind like the PBS stations.
Anyway, because the audience for the show is fairly small in the first place and not everybody has satellite or digital cable, the ratings for the show were very low. BBC America decided to drop the show from its lineup. The fans are truly pissed and there are petitions and letter writing campaigns underway.
Now, if you EVER want to know what kind of people to NOT make angry, right at the top of the list is SOAP OPERA VIEWERS! Long story short, thousands of people are making copies of the show on videotape, DVD, and CD. America is about to be flooded with bootleg Eastenders. So that leads me to the EVIL FAT BITCH that we can call Gayle!
She's one of those people who through the miracle of cutting and pasting distributes a weekly newsletter to fans. In this newsletter will be: comments from fans in the form of emails that she pastes in; news articles; photos of the actors. Of course the news articles are rare for this show and its actors in this country, so they are treasured bits of info. Treasured that is, until you've read the article for the 5th time!! You see, the EVIL ONE gets carried away with that pasting thing. 6 people send in an article; so pastes it in the newsletter all 6 times.
Alrighty, back to the bootlegging! Fans have formed tape trains. They work this way: You tape a show, mail it to Joe. Joe watches the tape, mails it to Jane. Jane watches the tape, sits it on the coffee table, goes off on a two-week all-inclusive vacation to the Bahamas, comes back and packs to move, misplaces the tape and generally gets pretty snooty when the next recipient emails to say "Hey, I was supposed to get that tape 5 weeks ago!"
Gayle aka SELF-IMPORTANT DEMENTED COW offered those in the weekly chat the grand and glorious opportunity to join her tape train. To hell with anyone who wasn't in the chat room. One sweet but slightly addled senior citizen wrote and requested she be placed on the mailing list. The DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS gets angry because I referred a fellow fan to her. Mind you, this woman was a regular member of the newsletter . . . well until I messed up her mailing controls in an attempt to block out junkmail. Alright, not messed it up exactly. But when you start opening your email to specific senders, you're bound to leave someone or several someones out.
The woman throws a genuine hissy fit when she writes the sweet elderly woman and sees before her eyes "The recipient is not accepting email from you." I explain the situation, apologize and then she gets gets nasty about it all. Read highlights -- yes, I too have THE POWER of performing the cutting and pasting miracle -- in her own malevolent words:
[[ But I'm a soft touch and figured I would add her on. However, when I attempted to respond to her request, I received a note from AOL saying she is not accepting e-mail from me. So, that pretty much clinched it and I changed my mind. I will not be adding her to the tape train. This is my final decision. She had her chance but chose not to accept my e-mail. I cannot have people on this a tape train of this magnitude who are foolish enough to refuse e-mail from me.
Gayle]]
Seems like there should be something in there at the end like I, THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS ONE HAVE SPOKEN! So I write her back because I'm an east coast gal and we don't take no sheeeee-yat like chumps!
(angelic harp music)
[[Gayle, While visiting her, I reset her email controls. She was getting loads of junkmail. I showed her how to add in new people, but she's 72 and not the most computer/internet literate person you'll ever come across. I have things all settled out on my train and I added her to my list. I couldn't make her any promises last night because I wasn't 100% on everything.
Sorry for the confusion. I didn't understand that only the chat room guests were being invited as there was so much to read and so much talking going on. I thought newsletter people in general would be welcome to contact you. The email situation was MY fault, not Penelope's ]]
ALRIGHT, SO THAT WAS NICE. BUT LIKE I SAID -- I'M FROM THE EAST COAST BEEEEYATCH!
[[Gayle, I realize that you're probably very stressed out with all the recent happenings as they relate to Eastenders and all the extra emails you've been receiving. However, I would sincerely ask that you not take it out on me or Penelope. We're EE fans too and don't deserve such curtness. I was in error and apologize, but lighten up. No need to be so testy on the subject.
Again, I will take care of her and have already told her so.]]
Nahhh, nahhhh, that ain't all of it. I'm just getting sleepy. Stay tuned for Part II of this donnybrook!
:: settles down to a bag of M&Ms ::
