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The Path of Least Resistence Often Fails

By Michael Stelzner

The Internet, also known as the great enabler, can also be a curse for our students.

In what seems to be a series of odd events, I received another email today that really communicates the sorry state of many students.

Subject Line: Paper

To white Paper Source

Hi, my name is Jessica ***** and I am a student at Minnesota State University of Moorhead. I currently am a junior in the Graphic Design program in the art department. I am having trouble finding different kinds of paper in the Moorhead/Fargo area and was wondering if you could send me some paper samples. Anything would be appreciated. My school address is *****

This person visited our sister site at www.whitepapersource.com before sending this message.

See another related student message here.

How might you respond to such a message?

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • She'd probably respond by asking if that was egg-shell white, pearly-white, marshmallow-white, or pure-white?
  • Terri K
    I would tell her, "I'm sorry, but we only have white!"
  • I don't remember Pizza Hut having crazy bread back then, but I could almost hear the synapses shorting out when I'd ask, "Do you want fries with that?"
  • I'd try to sell the lead on eBay or to a local paper supplier.

    Never waste a customer with her Visa in her hand !
  • You guys got me rolling in laughter! Good ones!
  • So did you ask if they wanted the side of crazy bread to go with their order?
  • I had a similar experience when I was in the Navy and my apartment phone number was only 1 digit off from Pizza Hut. I got chronically frustrated by the sheer volume of folks who wouldn't believe me when I told them they'd dialed the wrong number.

    The only workable solution I could eventually find was to take the orders.

    I'm guessing that they probably actually dialed the right number when they called to complain about not getting their pizza, because I don't remember ever getting a complaint.

    OK, so maybe I wouldn't recommend that approach now. But I'm just saying...
  • Oh boy! Can I relate to this one! If I had a dime for everyone who contacted my site looking for a quote on paper, I'd be wealthy man.

    The problem is that spending the time educating these people as to what the term "white paper" means, is usually an exercise in futility. When you do you get the audio version of the "deer in the headlights" over the phone....anotherwords complete silence!

    While I don't like it when I get a non-response from websites uoon sending in a inquiry, in this case it makes sense. Like a kidney stone, let it pass.
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