The Downfall of the English Language Plans a Snack

So, I get this e-mail at work. From an adult. Someone that should know how to write an e-mail without making him/her-self look like a complete idiot. But hey, I am surrounded by retards at work, so this really shouldn't surprise me too much. There are good intentions that come along with the e-mail, but that first sentence, and what follows, completely takes my mind of what this person was trying to do, and makes me feel bad for the mangling he/she is giving the poor English language. I will italicize what makes me feel sorrow for the language that I love.

Please due not feel obligated!! …… But, for those that are interested…. I was thinking of bring in some muffins, juice and fruit tomorrow for those who want to contribute $2.00 each. I know we all get in early in the morning and be a little hunger so I will pick up some breakfast snacks… I will be in tomorrow at 8am. So if you are interested please give me your $2.00 today I leave at 5pm……. Again please do not feel obligated this is just a suggestion if anyone has any other thoughts or suggestion please let me know…..

I'm not going to even get into the punctuation. All the random "..." just makes me wonder if my employer should require more than just a high school diploma or a G.E.D equivalent.

Hugh Jackman Explains Wolverine Re-Shoots via E-mail to AICN

I had been reading that the new X-Men movie, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", was undergoing extensive re-shoots in Vancouver, Canada. There was speculation that since Fox would be winning a settlement over the distribution rights to the upcoming "Watchmen" movie, this influx of fresh cash from Warner Bro's was allowing for Fox to add some more badass'ery to the Wolverine movie. Apparently, that is not so. Here's Hugh Jackman's e-mail to Harry Knowles, of Ainticool.com.

Hey Mate- Would you mind posting this? Thank you for your support! HJ

Hey everyone -

It's Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie - I owe it all to you guys!

I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we've got much more in store!

In the meantime, here's an exclusive shot of some characters you may recognize...

Cheers,

Hugh

He also included the picture that is re-posted below.

Click on the picture to see it get berserker rage big, snickity snickt! And, in case you haven't been to a movie theater lately, or just heard of the internets, the teaser trailer for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is below.

The Downfall of the English Language Sends and E-mail

It has become crystal clear to me that the people I work with are, for the most part because there are always exceptions to the rule, a bunch of grammatical retards. I got this e-mail in my work inbox (as well as everyone else in the unit) asking for contributions to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. Throughout the e-mail, anything in [] is me doing commentary on the material contained within the e-mail.

One of your co-workers birthday is arrivaling [arrivaling? When did that become a word? Is the new form of departure now departuraling?] soon we planned to celebrate on the 15th of the month. Xxxxxxx loves Popeyes chicken [I like it too, but I'm a vegetarian, so I'm contributing for food that I can't eat], everybody knows that food are expenses [I also know food is expensive], and we can’t afford to feed people that don’t contribute. So in order to make this date a successful one for xxxxxxx we are asking everyone in her unit to give $5.. [not sure why there's a double period there] Again this is for the chicken, cake or cheesecake (her speciality) [which she didn't make, so I think she meant her "favorite"] and etc…Keep in mind xxxxxxx gives to everybody…P.S. If you don’t donate we have to asked you not to help yourself with the food [what? I did donate, and I didn't help myself to the food]… ..Any questios please contact xxxx —ext.xxx & xxx-xxx ext.xxxxx

I x'd out the person's name and extension for their protection, but this e-mail was seriously circulated to every single person in my unit. Furthermore, it was authored by someone that just celebrated working for the bank 30 years. That's longer than I have been alive. You'd think that in those 30 years of service, she would have learned how to write something semi-coherent, but I guess not.

The Dangers of Leaving Seller Feedback on Amazon

I did a large chunk of my Christmas 2008 shopping on Amazon.com. For the most part, it was convenient, speedy, and affordable. When I was buying things directly from the company. But one item, the i-Dance Walle, was sold out through Amazon, and I had to purchase it from one of their partner retailers for double what it would have cost if I had bought it directly from the online retailer.

And I was fine with it, because I knew the gift would be loved by the recipient. So, when I got an e-mail from Amazon asking me to rate the transaction, even though I had felt robbed a little, I went ahead and gave this retailer, "Buy 4 Less Shop" a 3 out 5 stars. A neutral review. Which, in retrospect, I'm feeling I was extremely generous with.

Fast forward to today. I open my e-mail, and I get this in my inbox:

Greetings!

Recently I've noticed that you left us neutral feedback for this
order, stating that "The item arrived on time. Not sure why the seller goes by "Buy 4 less" as I had to pay just about double for what this item cost. But whatever, no one else had it." Please understand, that in order for us to be able to provide our customers with great service and convenience of online shopping some items we sell are sold at over retail price. It might look like we making out as bandits on this sale, but please trust me, we do not. Let me explain - Amazon.com charges us 15% of each sale amount, including shipping charges, so all
we received from Amazon.com after fees was $33.90. Actual shipping expense was $5.29, that leaves us with $28.61. Our purchase price was $21, so that leaves $7.61 BEFORE any of our internal expenses and taxes that we have to pay, so that leaves us with nowhere near a double profit.

If we would set our price any less than it was we would be selling at a loss and no business can operate like that. We did everything we promised, delivering your purchase promptly (your purchase was made on 11/29 and delivered on 12/04) and in the condition described.

We really would like to ask you to reconsider your decision and remove the feedback you left for us as it is damaging to our business. We would greatly appreciate if you did. You can do it in one easy step by following this link :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/summary/edit

You will find a feedback section two-thirds of the way down the page. To remove feedback, please click on the "Remove" link

Looking forward to hear from you,

XXXXX
Buy 4 Less Shop

You can see my original review in the body of their e-mail. I italicized it for better viewing. This store is pretty much telling me to go back and delete the feedback, because they explained to me why they overcharged me and because the item arrived on time. Everything in the transaction went through fine. That's why I gave them the 3 out of 5 stars. I just wasn't happy with the price that I had to pay, but I'm still entitled to letting people know that even though everything went according to plan, I was a little dissatisfied with the actual price I had to pay. Here's my e-mail response to them:

Thank you for explaining your business practices to me. The review/seller feedback will still stand. It is, after all, my opinion, and I am entitled to it. Furthermore, a neutral review is not a negative review, so please don't make me re-evaluate my opinion again. But it is by your store's own admission that you overcharged me for this product. I understand that "Buy 4 Less" does not like what I said, which is why I'm getting this e-mail, but they have to understand that we live in a free country where anyone can say anything they want so long as it's the truth. And the truth is, you overcharged me to cover your business expenses.

Looking forward to not hearing anything else about this,

Jaime
Neutral Consumer

From now on, I'm only buying shit online from Amazon directly. At least when you give them a review, they don't send you a pussified e-mail asking you to go back and silence yourself because they don't like your opinion of their services. I have no ill-will or bad feelings towards "Buy 4 Less Shop", but because of this e-mail, it's going to further cement my resolution to not buy anything from them ever again.

One last thing before I go. Amazon.com (which has a partnership with Target) had it for $19.99, so you can see, from their excuse: "we would be selling at a loss and no business can operate like that" doesn't really hold any water. Apparently, Amazon.com and Target can operate like this and they're still in business.

Letters from Scientology

I know there might be a moral problem with re-printing someone else's personal e-mail, but when you're a Scientologist, and you're wrapped up in a make-believe "religion", you're kind of asking for it. Leah Remini, one of the stars on "King of Queens" is a super-Scientologist. She ain't no Tom Cruise, but by judging from the e-mail below, she's getting close. Try to decipher the following e-mail and see just what the hell she's talking about. I couldn't make heads or tails from it, but then again, I'm just a lowly SP.

Hi!

This is Leah Remini Writing you again. Some of you may know me from the TV show "King of Queens", but what is more important is that I am now OT V and at one point I was a very stalled Clear. A lot of people helped me to get OT, and I decided I was going to turn around and help every Clear make it to OT.

A couple of months ago, you received a letter from me about an event I was holding to help people move who were stalled on the Bridge. Obviously you did not come and for some reason, feel you are not indeed a "stalled Clear". Let me start with the definition of "stalled". Not that you are-but who knows? STALL: To slow down or
halt the progress of. (American Heritage Student Dictionary). If you are not aggressively moving on your next step-your next "Gradechart Action", you are stalled. Look at the Gradechart, it says: Clear-Sunshine Rundown-Solo Course Part 1-OT Preparations and so on up the chart. If you are not on your next step as per this chart, and are not on a prerequisite for Solo, you are stalled-plain and simple.

If your C/S has CS ed you for the PTS SP course, or some other needed action to get you rolling up the GRADECHART faster, then do it, and do it fast. I have experience being a Stalled Clear. I was the kind of gal who went on course MAYBE a period a day, only on weekdays, and that was ONLY if I had the time. I felt I deserved a
special award for being there and they couldn't possibly ask for more. I remember thinking and saying out loud, "I WILL NEVER be like those idiots who wait 10 years to go OT!" 10 years later, I hadn't moved. I mean I did everything else but move on to Solo One. I did other courses, I got myself in to trouble, then needed some FPRD and
then I would finish that and it would be "my finances"... I would hear people talk to me about other Clears and refer to them as "stalled Clears" and I would be like "Yeah-they are totally stalled. You guys should handle them." Never once did I think "I" was a stalled Clear, because I was always doing something. Once my mother
told me I was stalled and I actually thought she was an idiot. Really, I thought "Wow, she really should handle that." I also thought she just didn't know me. My mom is OT VII and a Class VI. She did know me and she was right. So, it is up to you now to be
honest with yourself and look at your own progress up the Bridge.

Do you ever wonder why you are not moving? No? Then that's an outpoint. You are Clear, you are special, why have you not moved? Whatever the reason, there is an answer and a solution. I don't care what it is: you were not serviced right or fast enough, people don't get you, you have other things going on that we don't get, you are helping
others, you are upset, you haven't been acked, your life is actually going well, your life is not going well, there's no money there's no time, if you were a millionaire you would do it no problem, you are waiting for your 2D to make it, there's no urgency, you are not sure if you have what it takes to be OT, you hated your auditor, you don't like the parking situation...WHATEVER IT IS, IT IS STOPPING YOU AND THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT!

Why am I telling you this and who the hell am I writing you? Do you think that I have nothing better to do with my time than write you letters and put on events? Do you think I make some sort of commission off you? The answer is that I don't have better things to do than to support my group and help when I can. Clears ARE my
group. And no- I don't make a dime. Does that make you wonder, "Why the hell does she care?". Or... "Why does the Org care?" Well, when you do your levels you too will care. Sept 11th (9/11) kicked me in the a&#.

I finally realized that all it takes is a few madmen to take us all down. There I was, just running on my treadmill thinking life is okay. I'm going on course every so often, (when I had time) and BAM! Life has changed. I suddenly thought, "Oh my God, what if I'm stuck in this condition again and I have to--what? Do it all over again?
Where would I go? What would I do? Would some secret Scientology police come down and save me? Is there a secret back-up plan? I was sure there was. But there isn't . All it would take is another tragic event to happen again and we are all done. There will be no planet for us to be stalled, or "just doing okay" on. There would be nothing! The only plan is for you to move on up to OT as fast as you can. That is the secret. Really. I am asking you to get it together. You are in charge and responsible for what you do this lifetime. Not being on course and not doing your next step is getting you where? Play out the scenario-there you are being a Clear, being right about whatever it is that is keeping you from being on course and doing your next step. Years go by, you are making money, you have a nice house and a nice car. You spent time with those friends you wanted to hang out with, you cleaned out the garage, you traveled. You do
all the things that were keeping you from taking your next step. Then what? Then you are going to move? I hate to say this but you are lying to yourself. You need to move now, regardless of your situation. Are you just going to keep in place what you have had sitting there for lifetimes to come? Do you think we are just going to be here forever? So I say knock off any critical thought right now that you may have about me, the orgs, your FSM, your auditor, anyone else, and contact us so we can help you. All you need to do is just reach once and we can help. LRH was very clear on what we need to do- obviously in some way you are out of agreement with that. That again, is an outpoint, and we can help you with that.

You're waiting because of money? Or for your wife to do it first or for you to strike it rich? It will not happen without your decision to go up the levels. That is the truth. You owe it to yourself, your family, and to mankind to move and move NOW.

In closing, this is not going to happen often. I am only doing this again because some of you did not show. I hope to see you on September 28th at 11:30am at the AOLA atrium for a second chance. There will be brunch served, free of course! Do this for yourself- just blow through whatever it is that is sitting there, and just come. It's not going to kill you- I promise!

Much love,
Leah Remini