Every now and again, I volunteer some of my time to help teach people trying to get back into the workforce. It all started on a whim, really. I got an email through work asking if I could help with a math class. I remember thinking, "well, hell, I like math. Sure, why not?"And so, I agreed to help teach a business math course that helped people understand the type of math that they'd need in an office setting.
As it turns out, I found the whole thing pretty rewarding, so I kept at it. Eventually, I also agreed to teach a few other classes, including one about effective use of email. The way I see it, anyone can send email, so the more people that are sending concise emails that communicate clearly, the better the world will be. It's like my own little way of balancing out all the email spam out in the wild. Besides, I might end up working with some of these folks some day, so it'll be better for my inbox that way. Chris Rock did this bit about wanting his nieces and nephews to get a good education, so that they don't rob him in ten years when they're leading lives of crime. Same basic idea applies here.
Anyhow, during the course of the email class, I usually bring up my own email so that I can show a real life example. This, of course, has led to all manner of hilarity. You see, a while ago, I signed up for The Listserve, which is a site that will send you a daily email from one of the other people who signed up. You have to write one if and when you win the "lottery," but the basic idea is that you get a bunch of email. And as it turned out, one of the emails was titled, "How to Make a Baby." Do you know what happens when a room full of adults sees an email titled, "How to Make a Baby?" There is a LOT of laughter, let me tell you. And if you happen to be the youngest person in the room, you get all sorts of crap.
Well, that was a while ago, so I'd forgotten all about it. I did vaguely remember the incident, but luckily for me, I haven't had any emails with questionable subject lines any time recently. However, I did have one email that somehow managed to sneak into my junk folder by accident. The email was pretty innocuous (it was an invitation to a baby shower type thing), but for some reason, GMail decided to send the email directly to my spam folder. I was telling all of my students how it's safe to pretty much ignore what's there, and of course, that one had to sneak in there somehow. Luckily no one spotted it, or if they did, they didn't say anything. Still, it was just my luck that there was an email in my spam folder right when I was talking about the spam folder holding all manner of evil.
All in all, my email sure has managed to make things interesting for me. I may very well have to stop letting people have my email.
As it turns out, I found the whole thing pretty rewarding, so I kept at it. Eventually, I also agreed to teach a few other classes, including one about effective use of email. The way I see it, anyone can send email, so the more people that are sending concise emails that communicate clearly, the better the world will be. It's like my own little way of balancing out all the email spam out in the wild. Besides, I might end up working with some of these folks some day, so it'll be better for my inbox that way. Chris Rock did this bit about wanting his nieces and nephews to get a good education, so that they don't rob him in ten years when they're leading lives of crime. Same basic idea applies here.
Anyhow, during the course of the email class, I usually bring up my own email so that I can show a real life example. This, of course, has led to all manner of hilarity. You see, a while ago, I signed up for The Listserve, which is a site that will send you a daily email from one of the other people who signed up. You have to write one if and when you win the "lottery," but the basic idea is that you get a bunch of email. And as it turned out, one of the emails was titled, "How to Make a Baby." Do you know what happens when a room full of adults sees an email titled, "How to Make a Baby?" There is a LOT of laughter, let me tell you. And if you happen to be the youngest person in the room, you get all sorts of crap.
Well, that was a while ago, so I'd forgotten all about it. I did vaguely remember the incident, but luckily for me, I haven't had any emails with questionable subject lines any time recently. However, I did have one email that somehow managed to sneak into my junk folder by accident. The email was pretty innocuous (it was an invitation to a baby shower type thing), but for some reason, GMail decided to send the email directly to my spam folder. I was telling all of my students how it's safe to pretty much ignore what's there, and of course, that one had to sneak in there somehow. Luckily no one spotted it, or if they did, they didn't say anything. Still, it was just my luck that there was an email in my spam folder right when I was talking about the spam folder holding all manner of evil.
All in all, my email sure has managed to make things interesting for me. I may very well have to stop letting people have my email.
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