I'm Sorry That We Can't Fill Your Order

[Dips]

It's not that we don't like you. You might be very likeable. But the P.O. you just mailed us was written in an illegible scrawl. We don't know who you are or where you want the product shipped. Although I can make out the words "Ed." and "Cty."

It would have helped if you had, perhaps, put your phone number on there so we could have called. Although, considering your handwriting, that probably wouldn't have made any difference.

Ah! I could write you back at the return address on the envelope and ask you to call us. Oh. Wait. You wrote that out by hand too.

Aha! I see a postmark! This was mailed from a small town in Georgia.

I'll just use Google. Find all the school addresses in your town. Oooh! The superintendent's office has a phone number listed. OK. I'll call and ask...

"Hello. This is Dips from Awesome Software. I'm following up on a purchase order we just received. I believe it was from your office? Great. Could you please verify some information for us? Thank you. We'll be shipping that out tomorrow."

OK. It looks like we CAN fill your order.

[Silvercat]

What? Don't you love the illegible scrawl? I thought everyone loved deciphering handwriting. Doesn't it make your day exciting?

[pbmods]

Wow. Now THAT'S customer service!

I doubt you got a 'thank you' for your efforts, of course.

[MMATM]

Somebody call the cops. They're obviously employing their pre-Kindergarten dropouts in the superintendent's office. I suppose they're taking to heart the whole "no child left behind" thing...

[tollbaby]

OK. It looks like we CAN fill your order.

but only because you're way awesome! stupid customers and illegible handwriting *grumble*

[Becks]

Try having to decipher a catering order writting by the catering coordinator. That's a big pain.

[Silvercat]

Try deciphering dozens of mockup requests everyday in illegible scrawl with misspellings. FUN! And then the salesperson gets all huffy because you got it wrong.

The truly scary thing is how well I can read their handwriting now...

[Girly]

Tax returns. Either quarterly payroll returns, or the year end business returns. Or personal returns.

Everything filled out by hand for the whole year. And you can't read both the writing, and the numbers... Not to mention when you do get the numbers figured out, their non-math means they don't add up anyway, you were better off just guessing what they wrote in the first place, because it makes more sense than what they really did. It's fun!!

[XCashier]

GAAH! I hated having to figure out eBay orders, with illegible addresses and no auction numbers listed. Thankfully, now eBay has a "View Payment Details" option where you can print out the page with the bidder's address, the item won and the totals. Most folks print out that page and mail it with their payments now. Those that don't, I can look them up by zip code (if it isn't too old of an auction) and figure it out from there.

Still, illegible handwriting is an annoyance. If you know you have bad handwriting, slow down and write as carefully as you can, use a typewriter or word processor, use an address stamp or ask someone with decent handwriting to help you.

Do schools even teach Handwriting anymore?