Another damn drama queen

[MoonCat]

Had another screaming mimi on the phone today. Background: We did a contest in December that involved selling a Santa graphic to advertisers as an attention-getter on their ad (cars, apartments, dogs, whatever they were advertising). Readers had to count the Santas in the paper every day and send in a card or printed contest form with the number. End of Dec., we drew a winner at random ($100 gift card to supermarket). It's over now, of course. / end bkgrd.

CC: Crabby caller
Me: Eh

Not verbatim but pretty close:

CC (already yelling so intensely she's probably spitting): I want you to give me the phone number or address of [owner] so I can tell him what the newspaper is doing!!!! I'll tell you about it!!!
Me (please don't tell me): Yes, ma'am...?
CC: I don't know if you're short staffed or what (we are) but I called 000-0000 (circulation dept #) and I HAD TO WAIT A LONG TIME!
Me (oh the horror...) Okay...
CC: Then that Santa contest!!! You had a Santa in there yesterday, and it's not in today, but it was in yesterday!!! Why is it still running??? And how can you NOT tell people who won!!!
Me: Okay, well, I can answer the Santa question, ma'am. Those Santas were sold to advertisers to run with their ads, and many of those ads were for thirty days, so it's just that some of those ads haven't expired yet. When they expire, you won't see any more Santas in the paper, but the contest definitely ended Dec. 31st.
CC (screaming): NO!!!!! YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!!! THAT'S WRONG!!!!!!!
Me:

She continued yelling about how we didn't know what we were doing, and she was going to contact the owner and tell him all about it, and she's been taking the paper for a long time so she knows...more blah blah blah...

She hung up as I was trying to tell her that we DID indeed publish the winner's name. It actually ran for 7 days, it was only supposed to run for one. She just missed it.

Twat. Sorry, lady, I've worked here for 35 freakin' years and I DO know my job.

[eltf177]

Some people really need to find better things to do with their time...

[Mytical]

Some people really need to find better things to do with their time...

QFT! How dare the OP not know that this person is important (In their own mind, but hey they expect you to be psychic as well so...) and always right? I mean, a santa showed up... that is cause to get the police, the FBI, and the CIA on this case... right?

[MoonCat]

Yeah, if we do this again this year I am personally going to yank every single one of those Santas out of the paper for January 1st and replace them with something else. I soooo do not need this kind of idiocy.

[emax4]

Here's an idea. Replace them with a clip art graphic of a no-life customer saying "NO!!!!! YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!!! THAT'S WRONG!!!!!!!, then have customers count how many there are.

[MoonCat]

emax4, that's perfect!!!

[emax4]

I just keep imagining the drawn character from the Jerky Boys stuff, resembling that harpie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jerky.jpg

[raudf]

It actually ran for 7 days, it was only supposed to run for one. She just missed it.

No, it just didn't say what she wanted it to... AKA, her name!

[Teskeria]

Lol. You should have put on a soothing voice and asked in a concerned tone 'And where did you say YOU saw a santa? MMMHMMM uhhuh. I see.'
83% chance she would have broken out with 'I'm not crazy! It's there. look!!! look!!!!'

[MoonCat]

Nope, my mind is made up. Next time I'mma kill all the Santas on Jan. 1st and replace them with.....




...A Jack o'lantern

[Seshat]

And how can you NOT tell people who won!!!

How is it the general public's business who won?

I actually check contests; and ones which state that they'll put my name (or worse, name/photo/address/etc) out in public, I don't enter.

(My name is almost unique - there's something like five families of us in the entire country. NOT interested in being out there as having 'won big' in something.)

[MoonCat]

Seshat, I'm the same way. I wouldn't like my name given out. There may actually be a law that you have to identify contest winners in this state, sort of an anti-fraud thing. Too lazy to look it up right now.

Unfortunately, people tend to assume that if you don't tell them who won, then maybe nobody won, and the big evil company is keeping their fantastic prize all to themselves.

It was a $100 gift card to a local supermarket, so not a bad prize. We only gave the person's first initial and last name and the name of the suburb they live in. It wasn't too unusual of a name.

Somebody else said it, though: It's a case of "I didn't win, so this must be bogus!"

Thing is, we ALWAYS call the winner when we have a contest. So what I'd really like to say to the general public is, if we didn't call you, YOU didn't win.