Ok, ok, so I'm one day late. So sue me! Let's make it Suck It Monday instead.
I wanted to show you an email correspondence I recently had with my son's little league volunteer leader dude. Keep in mind, he was not the coach of my kid's team. I have never met him before. He's in charge of the mass emails going out to the entire league.
Here's the scoop - my son is six. He played a short season of maybe eight games? After his season ended, the older teams continued their games (for playoffs I'm assuming). Well, even after my boy stopped playing, we continued to get email after email about the leagues games, rain outs, final scores....blah blah blah.
And it wasn't just one or two emails, either. Over the period of one month, I received
20 emails about games and teams I didn't know and, frankly, could give a crap about. I receive hundreds of emails every day for work, I don't need any more that I don't read, right?
Soooooo, I replied to one of the numerous emails that the mass-emailing baseball dude sent out. Here's how it went (and truly, this is word for word)....
Me: Hi,
Please remove me from your mailing list. XXXXX@gmail.com
Thank you,
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Baseball Dude: Your child played for us in 2010, correct?
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Me: Yes, he played for a short season, but he is only six and his season has been over for a few weeks.
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Baseball Dude: If you played for us in 2010, you’re on our email list
We purge the list at the end of 2010.
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Me: You're telling me you can't just remove my email address now? I receive over 100 emails a day for my business. I really do not need any more from this league or who is playing where and when - especially since my son doesn't even play anymore. In the past four weeks (since my son's season ended), I have received 20 emails from you.
I would really appreciate if you'd remove me from the list today.
Thank you.
(Ok, I admit this was a little bitchy, but they guy pretty much refused to remove me on the first request...I should have taken that as a hint of what was to come...)
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Baseball Dude: I am not asking for anything in return by sending the emails, most are strictly informational
I receive close to 400 emails on an avg day and have never asked to be removed from an email list, especially from one of my children’s non-profit athletic league
Thanks for your support
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Let's pause here. Um wow. Now he's getting sarcastic? 'Thanks for my support?' How does he know what I put into this league? Does he know my husband helped coach the team? Or that I worked in the snack stand during my son's games?
Me: I mean no offense. I'm not sure why I have to justify (or made to feel guilty for) asking to be removed from an email list?
What I didn't include in my last note was that you also have my husband's email, (which I did not asked to be removed, btw) where we can continue to collect information from.
Again, I'm sure you put lots of your time and effort into these emails, but I don't think that's any reason to be rude or disrespectful.
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Baseball Dude: Wasn’t being rude or disrespectful
We’re a volunteer organization , spread very thin
I’m not asking for money or any of your time, just for you to hit the ‘delete’ button if the emails bother you.. just like the other 450 families do in our league
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Ouch. Nice dig, dude. He certainly isn't going to win any trophies on his punctuation, is he?! This is where I email
The Hubs and forward the crappy conversation I'm in the middle of. And of course, as I knew he would, The Hubs replies to Baseball Dude.
The Hubby: My wife forwarded this exchange and I have to jump in here.
First of all, it is irrelevant why we would ask you to remove us from your email list. We have the right to ask you to remove us from your DL and do not need to justify the reason for doing so.
Secondly, our son will continue to play baseball, whether it is in **** or another league. Again, immaterial.
As far as you being a non-profit; this is not something that is relevant. Your organization’s affiliation or status has nothing to do with the fact that we want to be removed from the email list!
About your emails being “strictly informational”. We are asking not to be informed of what is going on in the league when our son is not playing. He is 6. 6-year olds don’t participate in playoffs.
As far as your comment “I receive close to 400 emails on an avg day and have never asked to be removed from an email list, especially from one of my children’s non-profit athletic league.” Well --- (Baseball Dude), that is just a cheap shot and something I won’t stand for. I have a hard time believing that all 400 emails you receive each day are substantive and pertinent to your daily business and personal life. A large portion of that email volume has to be unnecessary and unwelcome content. To imply that, as parents, we are somehow neglecting our responsibility to our son and the league because we choose not to receive 5 emails a day from your non-profit league is ridiculous. Using your rationale, it would be perfectly acceptable to you if I signed up (insert baseball dude's email here) to receive unsolicited email from SOCIETY OF AMERICAN MAGICIANS MAGIC ENDOWMENT FUND, COLLIE RESCUE OF SOUTHEASTERN PA, and KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, all non-profit organizations located in our county. I am certain that you would find their causes worthy, but not relevant to your daily life, just like we find your emails from little league.
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I admit, The Hubs email was a little long-winded but, daym, it sure was funny!
Baseball Dude's reply: You have the right to do whatever you want, including asking to be removed from our email list
My point was that I find it odd that you wouldn’t want to be included on our email list when you’re a member of our league
We’re not asking for anything in return , it’s mostly informational
I receive hundreds of unwanted emails a day, never asked to be removed. I hit the delete button
We’re working here for free for the community
If you find my responses objectionable , I’m sorry, this organization has a special place in my heart and I take it personally when someone sends me anything negative while at the same time we’re greatly short on volunteers.
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Let me get this straight, Baseball Dude. That means that you're offended that I asked to be removed from an
email list? He's pulling the "volunteer" card, but he has no idea how much I've done - hello March of Dimes...The Red Cross....Share Our Strength? Those non-profits are all over my blog. And he's crying like a little baby because I hurt his wittle-bitty feelings?
And since he's offended, he gets to be a sarcastic
butthole? OH YES! I get it now. I could I have been so thoughtless?
So, being the bored, sarcastic bitch that I am, I had to get my own two cents into that...
Me: Perhaps you should ask to be removed from all those unwanted email lists - then you might not be 'strung so thin' and would have more time to devote to your volunteer projects. I've found that organizing emails is much more effective than simply "hitting delete."
I don't appreciate your sarcasm or jabs at me being an unsupporting parent.
Thanks for the removal.
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And they grand finale is....
Baseball Dude's reply: Sorry Tasha , but asking to be removed from your child’s little league email list is very odd
If this was a usual occurrence, then I wouldnt have responded
Let’s not continue this , we did what you asked
Have a nice day
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What....the.....FUCK? It's odd? When my kid's not playing?
I didn't email him back. I was too furious. I don't even
know this guy and he's essentially telling me what a crappy mother I am. Did I really go out of line by asking to be removed from a stupid list? You know how that would work? Go to email contacts...scroll, scroll, there it is! Hit delete.
Wow. That was hard!
This just goes to show that:
#1: East Coast people take their baseball VERY seriously.
#2: East Coast people are a-holes.
#3:
Baseball Dude can suck it.
I swear this ranks up there with
the buttholes who took my Lexus for a joyride...
Can I get some westerners to come and visit - so they can pick flowers with me and sing kumbaya?
Glenwood Springs pool - this water comes directly from underneath the ground, naturally warmed by the Earth. It's like swimming in a big bathtub!
Here is my son, Jack (see the little guy in the back?), and The Hubs (next to him) rafting on the Colorado River. You can see from their faces that they had a blast, but I was a little hesitant to allow Jack to go at all. And, after seeing what kind of rapids they went through, I'm glad I didn't know how big they'd be beforehand because I would have said NO way. At least Jack has a lifejacket on but...still. No seatbelt to keep him in the raft? Couldn't we have super-glued his ass to the seat or something? Jack could have flown right into the river!
Here's Jack and Ava plugging their noses from the stinky smell of sulfur coming out of the water behind them. If you've never smelled sulfur water - it smells like rotten eggs. This water came up to the surface from under our feet and was boiling like a big pot of spaghetti. Such a cute picture!
It was nice to hang out with my baby brother for a few days. Funny how we still tease each other for the crazy things we did as kids. My brother loves to remind me about how I told him once that he'd die if he swallowed his gum (I think I was ten and he was three?)...or the time I had to get a raisin out of his nose with a toothpick because it had gotten stuck up there. Good times.
On our last night there, we all had dinner together (16 of us!) and I surprised my mom with a big, chocolate birthday cake. It's not every day that your mom turns 60! It was a weekend that will stay in my memories for many years to come. 
