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Goofiest e-mail of the year

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Illinois

* From the Secretary of the Cook County Board…

The Secretary of the Board is in the process of updating it’s email distribution list. The office is issuing this test email to determine if we have correction email addresses. Please respond to this email if you information is incorrect.

OK, aside from the egregious typos, what’s wrong with this e-mail?

That shouldn’t take you long to figure out. How is somebody supposed to respond to an e-mail if they don’t receive it because the Secretary has the wrong e-mail address?

Cook County government in a nutshell right there. Simply amazing.

But I do wonder if you can top this with any memos you’ve received over the years.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:36 pm

Comments

Wow. That could be “untoppable”.
Gotta look through my email trash box…

Comment by Wondering... Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:43 pm
And it just sickens me to know that my college degree in Economics has me making less than what Stroger hired Tony Cole at. It must be because I end sentences with propositions.

Comment by Koko B Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:44 pm
(I included my misspelling on purpose)

Comment by Koko B Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:45 pm
Did this person attend CPS when Arnie was in charge? wow, I am sure someone else is being hired right now to proof read all outgoing emails. they will be paid $100,000 a year, until December 1st. Or, maybe the proof reader is a no-show job.

Comment by frustrated GOP Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:48 pm
Consider my non-response a response.

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:53 pm
IDNR Turkey permit application (paraphrasing here)”….we are now going to online applications. If you do not have internet access, please go to our web site…”

Does the web site have a S’field office you can walk in and visit?

Comment by Park Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:54 pm
DOH!! More brilliance from the Todder & Co…it it over yet?

Comment by Loop Lady Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:54 pm
A good answer back would be:

“I responded to your email, if you didn’t get it let me know.”

Comment by Wondering... Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:55 pm
Aaaaahhhhhhhh.

Ill - inois !

Comment by sal-says Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 2:55 pm
We need you to balance the State’s $13 Billion deficit by taking 24 unpaid furlough days next year.

Comment by SAP Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:04 pm
I used to have a copy of a memorandum from the Capital Development Board with a subject of “Constructing Handicapped Barriers” from the Edgar years…

Comment by SIlent Budgeteer Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:06 pm
Worked in a relatively small business, got a memo … RE: Memos

It has been brought to my attention that we have an issue with memos being sent out and staff has said that there are too many memos being distributed.

This memo is to let everyone know we are going to have fewer memos sent company-wide. Please consult your supervisor if there are questions in this policy, and hopefully this new policy will lead to fewer memos.

(Here is the line that struck me … and YES this was the end of the memo!)

If there is a need to change this policy, a memo will be distributed to explain the change.

Huh?

That one was the best I had gotten.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:06 pm
O….M….G….

although I think that AOL does not bounce back if the message
is not received, so I guess you could say they need to hear back.
but, still,…. author, author!!!!!

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:07 pm
I had a person write to me and complain about the pension bill that was passed for future employees. The problem here is that the person spelled it “Pentions”. I could understand a typo. This person repeatedly made the same mistake. I keep it around and read it every so often when I need a good laugh.

Comment by Current Lawmaker Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:15 pm
Sorry, the joke is that they were referring to teachers and how they deserved their pensions.

Comment by Current Lawmaker Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:19 pm
Here is a mass email I received from a co-worker…

“Be advised, the next email I send will be extremely important.”

Gee thanks. (This person’s emails are roundly ignored because most are similar in content)

Comment by Heartless Libertarian Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:23 pm
To be fair, getting a response back that it is the wrong person is a way of checking to see if they have the correct email address…although they should’ve phrased it differently if that is what they meant.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:32 pm
I am thinking the Trib endorsement of Daddy’s Little Boy should rank right after Quinn winns

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:32 pm
I always respond to these sorts of emails with a message telling the sender I didn’t get it and asking them to try again.

About half the time, they send it again.

Comment by TroubleMaker Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:33 pm
The Secretary must be reading this blog. She just sent out this followup email.

===The Secretary to the Board is in the process of updating it’s email distribution list. Please send us your updated contact information (title, address, phone, and alternative email address, etc.) Sorry for any confusion. Thank you for your cooperation. ===

Comment by Been There Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:41 pm
It wasn’t a memo but a verbal instruction whenever I was given a high priority assignment:

“This is your number one priority in addition to and not to interfere with your other number one priorities”

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:42 pm
The Secretary still didn’t get the correct form of “its” right. Drives me bonkers.

Comment by Team America Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:45 pm
I love the multiple-page letter seeking patient feedback from the hospital where our child was recently born.

The letter was addressed to the infant.

As far as I know, the baby has not yet replied, though certainly has nothing but time to fill out surveys.

Comment by Reality Check Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:47 pm
Reality Check wins

Comment by ugh Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:57 pm
When I was managing capital work for CPS some years ago, part of my responsbibility was to set kickoff meetings with the school principal, “engineer”, the contractor and the architect.

This is the e-mail response I got from the #140,000 per year principal:

“Sorry but I cannot attend capitol (sp) project meeting. We be going to another meeting then”

I should note that this was NOT the same principal at Daley’s favorite CPS HS who was arrested for getting into a fist fight with an LSC member, or the principal at a Southside school attached to a park rec complex who had to do a “perp walk” in front of the students. She was arrested because she called CPD and falsely claimed she had a fight going on with a student with a gun, when it was just a fist fight. Apparently she wanted faster response from Chicago’s finest, so she “exaggerated” the event.

The only problem, of course, is that she put the whole school at risk by having VERY nervous police entering the school prepared to shoot first and ask quetions later.

Fortunately, no one was shot, but the police were REALLY po’d at the principal, hence the perp walk.

Of course, she got her job back after “pulling some strings”. She had a lot of clout.

I’ve dealt with about 50 principals at CPS over the years. Some have been fantastic professionals, but many were incapable of constructing a coherent paragraph despite having a Masters of PhD in education.

And we wonder why the kids drop out or aren’t learning……

Comment by PalosParkBob Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 3:59 pm
Didn’t IEMA announce a new ‘red button’ on their web site for use during a disaster? You know, during the time you are least likely to have electricity, cell phone, web…

Comment by Belle Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:03 pm
Congratulations to Mr & Ms Reality Check on the new addition to their family and for winning todays’ contest!

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:07 pm
Which Stroger cousin received the $24,999 contract to update the county’s e-mail distribution lists?

Comment by The End Is Near Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:10 pm
This is pre-internet and e-mail era (late 80s), but a newspaper I used to work at frequently got anonymous letters from a reader who loved to point out our mistakes. On one occasion the writer sent several clippings with mistakes circled in red, and a note signed, “This shows the incompetance (sic) of your proofreader.” Since I was the proofreader, I found it pretty funny and still do to this day.

Comment by Secret Square Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:14 pm
With regard to Reality Check’s — After my three year old daugter received ER care, she received a letter asking about the circumstances that lead to the ER so that the insurer could pursue subrogation rights. Sorry, but she will not be in position to sue the offending party — her twin brother who had hit her (accidently) with a golf club.

Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:17 pm
if you wish to remain anonymous please send us your name and number where you can be reached.

Comment by jt Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:18 pm
On a somewhat related note, I have also been told this classic by a Cook County Judge: “Counsel, if you say another word, I’m locking you up. Do you understand?”

Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:19 pm
I’m going to have to vote for Oswego Willy on this one.

Comment by Really?? Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:19 pm
And people say we shouldn’t cut jobs from government…

Comment by A.B. Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 4:36 pm
For fun, Rich, figure out who sent that email.

Comment by anon Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 5:15 pm
anon, I know who sent it.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 5:27 pm
I stopped an application form from being issued once. It had a number of mistakes but my favorite was one section was labeled “Sex” followed by the choices: “Male” “Female” “Veteran” “Non-Veteran.”

Comment by In Chicago Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 5:28 pm
as my Dad always say - there goes another Chicago Public High School graduate… sigh

Comment by Katie Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 5:38 pm
Classic was one that was sent out from my company’s CEO to Chicago Public School Principles.

Comment by 312 Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 6:25 pm
I can remember two from my old State employer, both dealing with visitors to the office. One promised that, in an Open House, there would be “visual aids for the blind”, and the other stated that foreign visitors were expected and asked for employees to serve as translators if they were “affluent in a foreign language.”

Comment by aufjunk Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 7:18 pm
Uh…many of us are Chicago public high school grads and we would never refudiate it. Hehehe.

Comment by Emily Booth Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 8:24 pm
–“This is your number one priority in addition to and not to interfere with your other number one priorities” –

We have a winner.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 8:56 pm
Back in college some of my housemates used common patently-fake rude names to receive the Wall Street Journal. Some of the form letters, such as the collection notices addressed to ‘William M. Elater”, were pretty funny.

Comment by Quizzical Tuesday, Aug 10, 10 @ 11:27 pm
Always remember the time a local BB coach ended up screaming at the members of the BB squad to “pair up in three’s”.

Classic “Deer In The Headlights” moment…

Got an email two years ago containing an attachment covering user documentation updates (.pdf format) for a software application, where literally every page sent in the ‘update’ contained “This Page Has Intentionally Been Left Blank”. But, very nicely done.

Somebody obviously had way, way too much free time on their hands.

Comment by Judgment Day Is On The Way Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 12:23 am
Not to be a downer, but is there at least a bright side that there was a County employee actually working, and at least trying to do the right thing, getting information out to the public? They totally deserve to get slammed for sending out emails with mistakes, but everyone gets one bad day, even government employees.

I know Stroger and Co. are low-hanging pinatas at this point but this seems like much ado about very little. Slow day at Capitol Fax, I guess.

And at least they found out Been There’s and Rich’s email addresses are good!

Comment by Name/Nickname/Anon Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 12:59 am