"And the Oscar goes to…wait…never mind…"

Posted on March 6, 2009 by canoelover

So a funny thing happened to me today.  Actually, a hilarious thing happened to me today.

So I get this email from Outside Magazine:

Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 11:48:22 -0500
To: Darren Bush
Subject: Outside’s Best Companies

Hi Darren:

As you’ve probably heard, your company has been selected as one of Outside’s Best Places to Work for 2009. Congrats! Everyone at your company should be very proud of this accomplishment.

The ranking of the 30 best places to work will be unveiled in a special May 2009 issue of Outside magazine, which will hit newsstands on Tuesday, April 14.

Outside’s Best Places to Work has become a key issue for the magazine and we will launch a major promotional effort to highlight the winning companies in conjunction with the newsstand date. I am working directly with Outside’s public relations team and will be your direct contact for coordinating the promotional efforts of this launch.
 
Please respond as soon as possible so that we can move forward with our outreach. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Best,
L—–  Z——— 

I responded essentially that this was news to me, but thanks, I’ll get the materials you need together for your press releases.  Didn’t think much about it, honestly…I was in the middle of cutting a radio ad when it came over the Blackberry.
Less than an hour later I get this email:

Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 12:12:23 -0500
 To: Darren Bush
 Subject: RE: Outside’s Best Companies

Hi Darren,

My most sincere apologies.  Unfortunately, there was a mix up with email and unfortunately Rutabaga did not make the list. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Warm regards,

L——

Wow…
Okay, I understand…technical error.  The guys from Price Waterhouse put Keanu Reeves in the Best Actor envelope by mistake.  Stuff happens.  I responded thusly:

From: Darren Bush [mailto:darrenb@rutabaga.com]
 Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 1:14 PM
 To: L—– Z——
 Subject: Re: Outside’s Best Companies

L—–,

Gee, I thought we sucked. Thanks for confirming. 🙂

Sincerely,

  Darren Bush, Rutabaga Paddlesports

Her response:
From: L—— Z——-
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 12:16 PM
To: darrenb@rutabaga.com
Subject: RE: Outside’s Best Companies

My most sincere apologies.

L—— Z——

I called her.  I didn’t want her to feel bad.  Apparently this went out to a few other people.  At least one was really unhappy, had called his wife, etc.  I told her that I thought this was better than winning, because it’s a much better story.
And it is.  I don’t need Outside Magazine to tell me I’m a good employer, the employees are all the feedback I need, and so far, they think our shop is a pretty good place to work.
Respectfully and humorously submitted,
  Canoelover
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3 Responses to "And the Oscar goes to…wait…never mind…"

  1. Erin Lang Norris says:
    March 6, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    Hahaha, that made me laugh. That was nice of you to call her. 🙂

    Side note, I totally forgot to hit you up for that vinyl today! Dang it. Next week for sure…

  2. Steverino says:
    March 7, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    At times like that, I think of the motto of Lake Wobegon: “Sumus Quod Sumus.” And that should be enough.

  3. Capt'n O Dark 30 & Super Boo says:
    March 8, 2009 at 6:14 am

    Classic – It Outside Magazine goverment owned? 🙂

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