Dear customer
Thank you for choosing Architronic. We are honoured about the confidence you have shown into our company and products. As a pure E-tailer we are focussed only on the German speaking part of Switzerland. We are therefore glad to assist and serve you exclusively in German language, regardless if you contact us by phone, fax, mail or via email.
Thanks for your understanding.
The Architronic Team
Now, I must admit that getting an email in response to a query to a Swiss retailer was absolutely unheard of when I first moved here almost seven years ago. They all had pages and addresses, but out of dozens of mails I send, I never had a response. And getting it in the same day is not bad by any standard.
But the thing I don't get is the interesting combination of pointing out that they are a "pure e-tailer" and, at the same time, having shrewdly chosen to limit themselves to a small geographic and linguistic market.
The response I wanted to send:
Dear Sirs - thanks for the advance warning. I would fear for my soul and sanity, had I actually transacted business with someone unable to recognize that the whole point of the internet is for you to be able to take money from people like me who don't live on your street. I am forced to conclude that anyone with your clear business acumen would likely be unable to select the correct box or mail it to the specified address, anyways. Much obliged, Darryl.
The response I sent:
Okay, thanks. I'll order it from someone else.
Which leads me to one of the pillars upon which my life is lived: never waste sarcasm on those who don't deserve it. It's hard to hold back, but, in the long run, I believe it's worth it.
4 comments:
Give it to Der Mann
Somehow that sounds WAY more dubious with the German thrown in... yikes!
You make an interesting point but I guess that's where my problem lies. The thing is, I've never really thought that it was possible for sarcasm to be a waste. Even if the person on the receiving end doesn't deserve it it's still not a total waste. Plus, I don't think it's totally healthy to keep quality sarcasm bottled up. I think that's the kind of thing that could give you cancer. At least that's my excuse.
Well, Heather, to some extent it may be like performing an intricate piece of music for a 4 year-old: he would probably be happier to hear the Barney theme song and really won't appreciate what you're doing. So for him, why bother?
But there's still the joy of the perfect delivery, the benefit from keeping your mind sharp, and the off chance that one day, many years from now, he will look back and it will dawn on him that you didn't really mean what he thought you meant. So, point taken.
As for cancer, here's an interesting (if almost completely unrelated) anecdote. I had two friends in college who were, in fact, guitar players in my band. One of them would regularly wait as long as he safely could to pee because he figured that the wait really amplified the feeling of relief when he finally went. The other had heard that keeping urine in your bladder increases your risk for cancer, so he would go as quickly as he could feel anything building. We sure had some interesting discussions on road trips.
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