Post by 19pct on Nov 11, 2008 17:51:06 GMT -5
I received an angry telephone call late last night from a board member of the NYPD/USMC Association in connection to HAPD's Rant posting. I'll call him "D." Many accusations were made and the word "coward" was thrown around quite a few times. I may be a lot of things (lousy writer included) but coward isn't really one of them. My name is Bob Cohen and I'm the editor of Scurvy Dogs, Green Water and Gunsmoke. I've asked another friend to post this on the Rant for me since I've never posted on the site.
I'm one of the two NYPD authors HAPD mentions, and I was the one who approached the USMC Association asking for help in promoting the book. This proved to be an exercise in frustration. I tried both by e-mail and written correspondence for several months to make my pitch without any response. Then, I received a "customer satisfaction" survey from them via e-mail, and as you could well imagine, my response was rather snotty - but I finally got a callback. In my opinion (and I told "D" this last night) the call began with, "We cannot help you. By the way, what is it you want?" The call ended with the promise that the matter would be referred to their board for a decision. I believe "D" and I would both be in agreement on that. After two weeks, I sent a follow-up e-mail asking if the board had discussed it and received a terse reply that they did, and had decided against my request. In last night's heated conversation with "D" I was astonished to learn that my follow-up e-mail was perceived as sarcastic, since according to him, he had told me that if the answer was "no" that I would not hear from them. At all. I don't recall him telling me that, but if this in fact was said, that's an amazingly discourteous approach considering what was being asked for and the ease of sending an e-mail.
Last night "D" gave me the reasoning why his association turned me down, reasons for the most part having to do with their internal operations, basically that they're overloaded. He told me that if I had a problem with it, I should've gone to one of their meetings to get an explanation. Further, "D" demanded an apology for defaming his association or he'd take legal action.
I guess I'm gonna get sued now, although I'm not sure where they'll find the time if they're so busy they can't even respond to e-mails. I would hope it wouldn't come to that. So here's the apology - I'm sorry that I'm not a better writer with a better book, and that I had to humble myself to pitching fraternal organizations from my old job to try to make some money for a charity. Last night "D" also accused me of being all about self-promotion. That's funny. I went to them for help. We have no budget to speak of, and this sort of promo is important to us. All I asked for was a no-cost favor, just to help pass the word about a book: a line in a newsletter, a minute at meeting, an entry on a web-page. This apparently was too much to ask, as was a simple reply (to say nothing of an explanation). I'm sorry I asked.
Here's the real apology though: I apologize to any real Marines out there who have taken offense at any criticism or negative opinions expressed about the NYPD Marine Corps Association. They are not the Marine Corps, and they are not the NYPD.
Bob is someone I call a friend and he has donated to several different charities in the past on his other book.
19pct.
I'm one of the two NYPD authors HAPD mentions, and I was the one who approached the USMC Association asking for help in promoting the book. This proved to be an exercise in frustration. I tried both by e-mail and written correspondence for several months to make my pitch without any response. Then, I received a "customer satisfaction" survey from them via e-mail, and as you could well imagine, my response was rather snotty - but I finally got a callback. In my opinion (and I told "D" this last night) the call began with, "We cannot help you. By the way, what is it you want?" The call ended with the promise that the matter would be referred to their board for a decision. I believe "D" and I would both be in agreement on that. After two weeks, I sent a follow-up e-mail asking if the board had discussed it and received a terse reply that they did, and had decided against my request. In last night's heated conversation with "D" I was astonished to learn that my follow-up e-mail was perceived as sarcastic, since according to him, he had told me that if the answer was "no" that I would not hear from them. At all. I don't recall him telling me that, but if this in fact was said, that's an amazingly discourteous approach considering what was being asked for and the ease of sending an e-mail.
Last night "D" gave me the reasoning why his association turned me down, reasons for the most part having to do with their internal operations, basically that they're overloaded. He told me that if I had a problem with it, I should've gone to one of their meetings to get an explanation. Further, "D" demanded an apology for defaming his association or he'd take legal action.
I guess I'm gonna get sued now, although I'm not sure where they'll find the time if they're so busy they can't even respond to e-mails. I would hope it wouldn't come to that. So here's the apology - I'm sorry that I'm not a better writer with a better book, and that I had to humble myself to pitching fraternal organizations from my old job to try to make some money for a charity. Last night "D" also accused me of being all about self-promotion. That's funny. I went to them for help. We have no budget to speak of, and this sort of promo is important to us. All I asked for was a no-cost favor, just to help pass the word about a book: a line in a newsletter, a minute at meeting, an entry on a web-page. This apparently was too much to ask, as was a simple reply (to say nothing of an explanation). I'm sorry I asked.
Here's the real apology though: I apologize to any real Marines out there who have taken offense at any criticism or negative opinions expressed about the NYPD Marine Corps Association. They are not the Marine Corps, and they are not the NYPD.
Bob is someone I call a friend and he has donated to several different charities in the past on his other book.
19pct.
