1. I receive a remarkably incoherent email from a stranger. Oh, look! He wants a letter of recommendation by tomorrow. Ha, ha, ha!
2. Sabbatical FOAD response sent automatically by procmail.
3. He resends the request.
4. Delete, delete, delete.
5. He sends the request again, adding that he is going to list me as a letter-writer despite not having my approval to do so.
6. I have to respond. "Hell no. I'm going back to the sabbatical cave now. Go away and do not bother me again." Delete, delete, delete.
7. Yet another email containing the same request worded in a different incoherent way.
8. This one was all my fault. Delete, delete, delete.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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9 comments:
You could always take revenge and write an anti-recommendation letter. Or at least threaten Incoherent Student with one.
Do all the universities in America have these kinds losers on staff? You seem to run across a lot of people like this in our travels.
You imply in the posting that he committed a huge breach of etiquette by contacting you doing your sabbatical.
Given his persistence it might be nice to send him an email-bomb.
Would a letter of recommendation in the negative be permissible?
"I've known this person for 1 day, since they asked me, via email, to recommend them...."
Yes. I do not know this person from Adam, yet he as sought me out and badgered me for a letter eight times in two weeks. This demonstrates his persistence and cluelessness. He would be a perfect telemarketer or torturer. Otherwise, I would stay far away from him.
What follows is a genuine quote from an application for graduate school I read when on the admissions committee:
"...Whether his persistence will overcome his near total lack of talent remains to be seen..."
I was, at the time, tempted to write back to this student and just tell him he needed to get someone else to write his letters. Now I realize the letter was probably written in extremis by a beleaguered advisor.
Hope your holidays are grand, and that your resumption of teaching isn't painful. Teachers like you are worth more than gold.
Cheers.
this is totally worth the last 35 times i checked your blog. happy merry etc.
I have a question based on comment number 8. Why was this guy;d email, "All my fault.?" You are not responsible for the fact that the sender is a jack weed.
"Why was this guy;d email, "All my fault.?""
I don't think they did - I believe that's AP saying it's all AP's fault (why I'm not sure - for reading them? For setting up the auto reply?)
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