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How 7 Negative People Could Have Been My Anchor

When you put yourself out into the world, you open yourself up to all kinds of people.

Jim Rohn says that there are really only about 7 mean, nasty people in the world. (He goes on to say, tongue in cheek, that it's important to remember that if it seems like there are more than 7 of them, it's because those mean, nasty people move around a lot.)

This page is where I will chronicle my encounters with those "7" people, as well as those who I, apparently on the wrong day, offended in some way.

I'm making this post, initially, about 7 people who have proven to be just absolutely fascinating to me over the past few years as I've put myself out there more and more. But there will likely be others I will add to this page.

I believe, and will continue to believe, that people are generally good. That 99.99% of people in the world are hopeful about the future, that they want a better life for their children, and that they work in life to benefit themselves, but that they realize the best way to benefit themselves is by benefitting others.

I have a page on my web site for some of the nice things people have said to and about me.

You might call this page the antithesis of that page.

I don't like to dwell on the negative aspects of life. At the same time, I think it's important for people to understand that the journey to what you want in life requires a little bit of toughness, (sometimes a lot of toughness), and that people will try to knock you down, even (and for some people *especially*) when you give it your best.

This is therapeutic for me... Instead of replying back to these people (which I usually do anyway with something very nice, as you'll see in a couple places below), I get to share their rudeness and fascinating"ness" with you.

I have not altered, nor edited, their responses in any way (except for vulgar language where noted, and removing their email addresses and other identifying information).

It's not all roses when you put yourself out into the world. But it's worth it. There has been such a significantly greater number of nice and helpful people, and people I've been able to help, along the way, than negative and sad people.

Because I've put myself out there, I've met way more amazing people, and had so many more amazing experiences, than run-ins with people like those you're about to meet.

26. Jan. 2010

Background - We have a property that we rent. Our tenant decided to move out 6 months early, so we posted it on Craigslist.

Within 1 hour of posting the house, I received this bit of delightfulness from a complete stranger.

I just felt the need to tell you I think you're nuts. I've been watching rentals on craigslist for months, and today I saw yours. You are asking $1500 a month for a 1400 sq ft house? That's ridiculous and I truly hope that no one rents your house because you would be ripping them off and taking advantage of someone that may not know any better. Shame on you. Furthermore you have the gall to try to get another $150 a month for the hot tub?? PLEASE! I have a hot tub in my home, the only expense is the electricity to RUN it and that would be paid by your tenant I'm sure. Other than that, the chemicals needed to maintain are NOT expensive. You really are out of your mind, or just plain STINGY. And if you do manage to rent your little prison cell for $1500 a month, I hope the guilt of robbing some poor family eats you alive. Yours truly

I responded by saying:

Wow.

I wasn't even going to reply, but I'm curious.

What do YOU feel would be the right price to rent out this 3BR/2BA home in a decent neighborhood in Parker?

By writing emails like this, knowing very little about the actual facts, you could seriously cause someone harm.

You don't know me... or know that I spend than $1631.27/month just to keep up with a mortgage on that property, and actually would go into the hole every month renting out this home at $1500/month.

- Nor do you know that I am a little negotiable on the price for the right person...
- Nor do you know the situation with our current tenant, and the undue strain that's created in our lives...
- Nor the steps we've taken in our lives to get to where we even can have a home to be renting out to others...
- Nor anything about me, or the house, or that other comparable houses in the neighborhood are renting for more than that right now...

Hot tub - What I know is that when we lived in the house for 3 years prior to renting it out, there were several months (in the winter months) when the electricity alone cost an additional $130/month. Because of that, we drained it during the summer months when we used it less. Does the ad say the tenant would pay the $150 directly to us? Or might it be (perhaps we could state more clearly) that we're letting a tenant know the hot tub will cost them $150/month if they choose to run it.

I'm sorry that life has treated you so poorly that you have some weird need to beat up on complete strangers.

In the future, I'd advise being a little more gentle in the ways you choose to communicate.

We are real people on this end, receiving your message(s).

You might entertain this thought before sending another email like the one you just sent.

Perhaps some people are receiving your messages even louder and clearer than you intend them to come across, based on the things they're dealing with in their lives at the moment.

Regardless of the way you've treated me, I wish you success in whatever endeavors you pursue.

Jonathan

08/07/2009

I didn't even bother responding to this one. (They gave me a fake email address anyway
j suk mi nutz @ gmail.com)

The back story is that I posted an ad on Craigslist stating that I was looking for someone whom I could teach. I wanted to teach them how to do marketing blog commenting in a way that drives traffic to web sites and builds relationships effectively.

I posted the job ad on Craigslist, saying that it would take 30 minutes/day and that I was looking for someone who would work for free for the first 30 days while getting their feet wet.

After that I would be willing to pay up to $9/hour.

My goal was to weed people out from the beginning.

My plan was to spend 7 days teaching someone and start working with them after that, actually paying them to do the work.

But anyone willing to volunteer to do this for 30 days while learning would have a deep love of, and/or interest in, doing marketing online.

I also said that they needed to be a native English speaker or have native English fluency.

I guess someone took that personally, and took the time to send me the following (with no return address, giving me no real opportunity to address their concerns):

Hello,

I just read your add for a marketing blog commenter position and feel like I really fit the bill. I'm familiar with XML,RSS,GR,GA,HTML,CSS,IDFK,GFY, and SMN, with a strong emphasis on SMN.

Not only do I LOVE business marketing, I also love being bent over by a seasoned internet marketer looking to exploit desperate college students in a down market. Do I get a handjob after the first 30 - 45 days also?

I'm actually a non-native English speaker and am deeply offended by your ethnocentric xenophobia and sordid racial and cultural prejudice. I'm half dot / half feather mother f*cker, and I don't appreciate you excluding a traditional Indian Indian from your employee search.

When can I start?

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Johnny Sukminutz (my family name is Habib Who Sells Slurpees In The Evening, but Anglo bastards like you Americanized it when I came over in 1998)

PS -- I'm wicket smaht!



07/30/2009

Jim is (was?) part of the community GreenJoyment.

We sent out an email promoting a product about how to build your own solar panels. I followed it up with an email 3 days later, saying "In case you missed my previous email, here's a reminder email. (2 emails total.)

Jim sent back the following.

In case i missed your other e mails????Don't make me laugh, how could i miss any of them as there are so f*cking many of them. Just how desperate are you? Stop pestering me for money for something you got for nothing. There really is not a sucker born every minute...only idiots trying to hustle a buck on the internet with some copied plans and other bullshit that they grabbed from the internet to begin with. Why would any one pay you for something they can get from tons of other places for free?Take me off your sucker list!

I responded by saying:

Hi Jim, I do appreciate your honest feedback. Honestly. It helps us improve.

But wow. All I can think about your email is, "How pleasant this person must be". Nice to meet you too.

Have you seen this post on our web site?
http://www.greenjoyment.com/how-to-build-your-own-solar-panel-solar-cell-electricity.html

Free, STEP-BY-STEP instructions for building your own solar panel.
Check it out for yourself.
We plan to have 50 or 100 posts like this in the next year.

I then gave Jim about 8 links with 100% free resources where he could learn how to build his own wind turbine, his own beer can solar heater, etc. etc.

I ended the email very cordially and apologized if he felt like he was getting too many emails and that he was free to click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email we send out.

Jim responded by saying:

If you appreciate my feedback so much why send me a sarcastic e mail?I am a pleasant person and i just don't appreciate your internet bullsh*t,It's almost as bad as Nigerian scamming.If i was interested in throwing money away i would let you know. You come across as very un professional and hard up. You might want to work on your business skills and spend less time bothering people with your spam. Just a thought.

I responded back with:

Jim,

My email wasn't intended as sarcasm.

I'm not sure how it could have been taken sarcastically, and I
apologize if it came across that way.

Every bit of what I sent you was intended with sincerity. By
the way, all of it is free as well.

I spent time putting together free resources that I thought you would
appreciate and be able to use.

There is nothing for you to buy in any of the links I sent you.
Just good, free, useable information.

You are welcome to stay part of the GreenJoyment community if you would like.

However, at this point, it seems we are probably better off if we part
ways, as I don't know how I can help you or offer you more than what I
have offered already.

I wish you the best in whatever endeavors you choose.

Regards,

Jonathan


Jim responded the next day with:

You really are not very professional are you? I'm welcome to stay but it seems like we are better off to part ways?Dude, we were never together and i can see by your lack of business smarts we never will be.If you just don't waste any more of my time we can end on that note. as far as you sending a few links to me, thank you but if you had not just used that as another chance to spam me it would have been more personal and helpful. Good luck to you and please stop bothering me with your unwanted e mail's. BTW. if you say something like wow....all i can think about is how pleasant this person must be is a very good example of snide sarcasm.

Sometimes people really don't see eye to eye. To Jim's credit, I really did think to myself (in a completely non-snide, but definitely sarcastic way,) "How pleasant this person must be." But at least Jim backed off on the F-Bombs to end our conversation.

I didn't bother responding, as it was clear that Jim wanted to have the last word, and I was happy to let him have it.



12/24/2008

Sent to us at our GreenJoyment web site email address, after we provided lots of information for free

Name: Alan Fielding Comments: Yes - I went to your site to see how you would teach to make solar panels. The copper plate is interesting but not effective. Did I learn something useable, NO. Composte Idea is good but your information is bad. In the composting process nitrogen is used in the breakdown of the plant material. When you finish, you do have many micro's and support minerals, but very little nitrogen. Plants do not grow well without nitrogen. So in real life you composting idea without adding nitrogen is bunk. One reason CFL's use less energy is they put out less light. I think light is the real idea of a light bulb. They are bad in cold weather also. I use them only because of their long life. You should try some of your ideas before teaching BUNK.

Hey Alan,
I'm sorry that you have had such a negative experience with us.
I'm also sorry for the delayed reply... I just haven't known how to reply to such an angry response that you sent to us. We do our best to teach what we know to the best of our ability, and we'll be happy to share your information about composting with anyone who is interested in learning about it. In fact, if you would like to write up something about the importance of nitrogen in composting, I'll be happy to share it on the blog and credit you as the person who wrote it. Again, my apologies if you felt or feel in any way wronged by the free information we have provided. Regards, Jonathan



12/01/2008

I have not edited a single character of this email, send to us at our GreenJoyment web site email address.

ive learned that you are the biggest fraud on this earth and don't everbother me again i simply asked you what are the ingrediance 0f the solar panel and i dont need pages of your garbage i suggest that you make a fist and if you are right hand rev your arm clockwise and if you are left hand do the same in reverse reve three times or more and ram your thumb up your rectum and suck on it. good by

(I couldn't make this up, even if I wanted to.)

10/28/2008 and the email that made me actually write this post, instead of just thinking about writing it, comes from Cindi.

Cindi requested a free digital copy of chapter 1 of my book on How To Heal Your Own Scar Tissue.

Never mind that the book has helped hundreds of people lessen the effects of the scar tissue in their bodies.

Never mind that she's getting all of chapter 1 for free.

On day 2, she unsubscribed.

And then she took the time to drop me the following LOVELY email.

What a "F"ing waste of time reading that dribbbbbbbbbbbbbbble was. wish I had that part of my life back. did not learn one needed thing on dealing with scar tissue. You sure like to hear yourself talk!!!!

The funniest thing about this email is that the 2nd day email (which was right below her lovely response to me when she sent it) talks about collagen and elastin, the building blocks of basically everything in our bodies, and teaches anyone how to understand the basics of how they form. It's really the only way to really heal your own scarring. To me, that understanding is crucial, and I've been told by other people that my explanation finally makes it understandable to them. To Cindi, apparently it was "f" ing dribble. (I had never met nor talked with Cindi before. This was my first interaction with her.) I guess Cindi will now go and investigate her other options, which include going under a surgeon's knife (often causing more scarring), or applying $120/tube creams and gels, which she'll need to apply 3x daily to see results.

I responded: "Cindi, Thank-you for your lovely comments. It is good feedback, though I would have liked to have received it with a slightly nicer tone attached. I wish I could have been of more service to you, and I'm sorry I wasn't. I wish you the best in whatever future endeavors you engage in. Kind Regards, Jonathan Kraft, CMT"



8/12/2008
I think this one is still my favorite.

I wanted to become an affiliate for a Telcom company.

Walter, from this company, struck me as odd. But I didn't really mind. Lots of successful people are odd, and I just figured that it wasn't important in the big scheme of things.

But then, in order to approve my application, Walter wanted me to send him a form which gave this company blanket authorization to debit from my account if/when I sold calling cards at my retail location.

I don't even have a retail location.

I told Walter via email, and then over the phone, that I wasn't comfortable filling out the form.

I asked him if there was some other way we could work together.

The story is long, and involved a couple of odd emails from Walter, but in the end, I sent Walter this email...

Hi Walter, I've decided not to partner with [NAMEOFCOMPANY] right now. Something just feels off about the relationship. Although I can't pinpoint it, I just am having hesitation every time I go to send this documentation to you. Thank you for the time you've spent up to this point, and I wish you the best in your endeavors. Warmest, Jonathan

The response I received back was (and this is completely unaltered from the original)

Ah Yes, the kid who does not even have a business license or office is afraid to have an account with a public company. We sell our services in a 1,800 store chain under privet label. If you knew how to use the internet for research instead of clicking for $$$$ you would know something about Telecents. Why don't you go to the trade shows that deal with telecom and learn something about the services your trying to list? Or go back to school so you can get a real job...........

My response:
Walter, I decided it wasn't a good fit. As I'm sure you're aware, that happens all the time in business. I let you know in a way that let our business connection remain open. As it is, I'm sure you won't mind my sharing your email with a few of my friends in the Telcom business. Regardless of how poorly you've treated me, I still wish you the best in your business.(May I recommend that you read a book called "How To Win Friends And Influence People?" It may help you learn to deal with "kids" like me who are "afraid" to have accounts with public companies and need "real" jobs.) All the best to you, Jonathan

11/05/2006 Mietek subscribed to learn more about our Kilimanjaro climb.

When we sent Mietek an email, this response came back from the email address he used to sign up.

Dear Sir or Madam, Your are sending your SPAM Emails to the worng address.

Regards, Mietek
*** THIS IS GENERATED BY AUTORESPONDER***


10/13/2006
In 2003, I took pictures at a wet bikini contest at an outdoor concert called Country Jam, and posted them online.

For a long time, that was the most visited page on Strive4impact.com (by more than double any other page on the site - 10's of thousands of visitors monthly).

So, I had the idea that I should be collecting addresses so that I could email these visitors again in the future. I didn't know what I was going to send them (I don't promote porn), but I had heard it was important to gather email addresses of visitors to your web site.

I also put a comments field on the form, primarily because I didn't know what I was doing at the time, and the form came with a comments field.

Here's the edited version of what was in the comments field of someone who CHOSE to sign up:

comments: f*** you and your fat b***ches ur a dumb a**hole

10/13/2006
I used to have a blog at a site called CommuteFromHome.com. As of this post, I'm still working on putting something together there. It's going to be great. The content and people I've interviewed for it just gave some amazing information.

Anyway, this isn't a sales pitch.

At the time in 2006, I was just sharing ideas and thoughts on how I had been able to give up my day job and was offering whatever help I could to others to be able to do the same.

Michael filled out the form that was on CommuteFromHome. I don't remember what the form said to get him to put his information in, but basically I wasn't doing anything with the list... again, I'd just heard that I should be collecting email addresses, so that's what I was attempting to do.

Check out what Michael put in the comments field.

Hi Jon,So how is your business going? Are you a millionaire yet? I am sure you are probably not because if you were why would you share your secrets/wealth with the world? Wouldn't that be counter productive? I mean if you are sharing your wealth with so many people, that would diminish your wealth which would kind of make you a pretty stupid businessman. Take this example, if you know of a stock in which you have inside information that it will rise dramatically due to a huge merger or aquisition would you tell everyone on the net to buy that stock before it goes up? If your answer was yes then you truly are a dumb ass and you don't deserve to be a millionaire. If you said no then you are correct because in the other situation your actions of telling everyone would highly dilute the value of each share in the market. If you really want to be a millionaire drop me a line and I will give you a few tips (for free) on what you really need to do. So cut the bullshit on your site and get a real job!Regards,Michael

People seem to be all about this "real job" thing.

I don't know what a "real" job is. But based on what I do understand of that concept and mindset, I would say that in most people's definition of "real" job, I haven't had one since January 2004.

I'm not rich, but since then, I've gotten married, bought a house, bought a car, traveled to 3 continents and more than 10 countries...

I guess it's worked out alright for me at my "fake" job.


10/10/2006
Calvin filled out the form at CommuteFromHome. I did have one autoresponder message in there that basically said, "Thanks for requesting more information. I'll be in touch with more information soon, but if you'd like to visit the site, please come back and see us at www.CommuteFromHome.com."

Calvin responded to this with the following:

jump off a cliff

Posted on October 28, 2008 1:06 AM
Full Web Address: http://strive4impact.com/how-7-people-could-have-been-my-anchor.html
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