amarok2005
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
- Messages
- 370
Just a couple of days ago I received a letter -- a genuine white envelope in my mailbox. I opened it and unfolded paper that looked like a 15 or 16th generation Xerox copies. It began "Dear friend; Greetings. I am a retired Attorney. A few years ago, a man came to me with a letter. . . "
Having a short attention span, I skipped to the last page, where I found a list of steps to take: "1. Immediately send $1.00 to each of the six people on the list at the end of this letter . . . 2. Retype the last page . . . removing the name next to the #1 on the list and move the rest of the names up one position (#2 becomes #1, #3 becomes #2, etc) then place your name in the #6 position . . . 3. When you have completed these instructions, take the letter to a copy center and make at least 200 copies . . ."
"Well, I'll be switched!" I said (as one does). "It's a genuine dyed-in-the-wool chain letter!"
When is the last time anyone got a chain letter of the pyramid-like, everyone-will-send-you-money type? I haven't seen one in 20 to 25 years!
I actually fell for one as a wee, impressionable tyke, not because I expected money to rain down on me, but because the writer promised all manner of plagues and curses upon me if I broke the chain. So I irritated everyone I knew with unwanted chain letters -- and received not a few of them back! Arrgh! Now I had to write six times as many!
So -- we've all gotten emails from officials in Rwanda and other distant lands who want to put millions in our account (since our reputations as financial wizards are legendary world-wide). But is anyone still getting good old-fashioned chain letters?
Having a short attention span, I skipped to the last page, where I found a list of steps to take: "1. Immediately send $1.00 to each of the six people on the list at the end of this letter . . . 2. Retype the last page . . . removing the name next to the #1 on the list and move the rest of the names up one position (#2 becomes #1, #3 becomes #2, etc) then place your name in the #6 position . . . 3. When you have completed these instructions, take the letter to a copy center and make at least 200 copies . . ."
"Well, I'll be switched!" I said (as one does). "It's a genuine dyed-in-the-wool chain letter!"
When is the last time anyone got a chain letter of the pyramid-like, everyone-will-send-you-money type? I haven't seen one in 20 to 25 years!
I actually fell for one as a wee, impressionable tyke, not because I expected money to rain down on me, but because the writer promised all manner of plagues and curses upon me if I broke the chain. So I irritated everyone I knew with unwanted chain letters -- and received not a few of them back! Arrgh! Now I had to write six times as many!
So -- we've all gotten emails from officials in Rwanda and other distant lands who want to put millions in our account (since our reputations as financial wizards are legendary world-wide). But is anyone still getting good old-fashioned chain letters?