On Becoming a Curmudgeon

Ok, I guess I’m turning into a grumpy old man. Last week I climbed up on my soap box about IBM Press. Then, this morning I received yet another email from Salve Regina University asking me to participate in their 60th Anniversary Alumni event. I guess this wouldn’t be too bad, accept that I’m not an alumnus, I’ve never been to the school, I’ve never even lived in Rhode Island (Salve Regina is in Newport, RI). Oh, and to make things worse, I’ve been asking them nicely for the last year to take me off their mailing list.

I don’t know which is worse, that a university can’t figure out who their own alumni are, or that they can’t figure out how to pull me off their own mailing list. It certainly doesn’t speak very highly of their abilities. If you were considering attending Salve Regina, maybe you’ll want to think twice given this stunning display of incompetence.

If you’re interested, here’s the timeline for the latest batch of emails:

Dec 10, 2007 I received an email from Stephen Kumnick that read as follows:

Hello All,

We are currently planning an Alumni and Parent Event in Providence on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 10 Prime Steak and Sushi. Your help is greatly appreciated to make this event a success! This will be a networking event for alumni and parents in the area.

Are you interested in being on the event committee? As an event committee member you will call and email alumni in the area to ensure that they attend this event. We look forward to hearing from you.

I responded thusly:

Get me off of your mailing list! I’m not now, and haven’t ever been involved with Salve Regina as a student or a parent of a student. The more of these emails I get the less likely I’ll ever want to become involved with your institution.

Mr. Kumnick didn’t get the message. On January 9, 2008 he sent me another email (and this one was all html-y—yuck!). The gist of it was that I was invited to attend a $35 event. No thanks.

Here’s my response:

Mr Kumnick,

I need to tell you once again that I have no relationship with Salve Regina and never have. I do not want to continue to receive spam from your institution. Take me off of your mailing list.

I haven’t received anything else frm Mr. Kumnick, so maybe he figured it out. If so, he didn’t pass the word along because this morning I received an email from a generic looking email address, alumni@salve.edu. Once again, it’s an invitation to attend their event, which is now being called a ‘Providence Networking Event’ for Parents, Alumni, and Friends—I’m certainly neither of the first two, and with their incessant emails I’m not likely to be the third either.

I’m emailing them the link to this post. Hopefully it will help them get the message and get me off their mailing list.