<snip>
If you do choose to write them yourself, allow me to suggest a concluding
sentence that has always been a favorite of mine in matters of this sort:
"Should you fail to comply immediately and to the fullest extent with our
demands, we shall take action that will astound you."
May the force be with you.
</snip>
Whilst I totally agree with the sentiment, I learned a year or so ago that
this kind of statement can get you two very different results depending on
the mentality of the people on the receiving end !!
I was in a battle to get back the money my ex-employer stole from my
paycheck. My demands initially included statements of the sort suggested
above. This felt good to me, as it allowed me to vent my anger and
frustration. The response it got from the CFO of the company was one of
"come on then, bring it on". Not in so many words, but in attitude. In the
end it made for a much longer battle, and one in which I had to accept less
than I was fully entitled to due to legal technicalities (it would take me a
couple of years and big lawyer fees to recover the last 10 percent of the
amount, so I let it lie).
As I said, the response you get from such a statement depends on the type of
person you're sending it to. If this is, as has been suggested, just a
"back-room" setup they may be sufficiently worried to politely apologise and
grant you your wishes. However, as happened with me, if that person has the
audacity to steal from you in the first place, they may well be inclined to
stick 2 fingers up and say "bring it on" !! Moral, I guess, is don't make
the threat unless you really have the determination to back it up and are
prepared for spending months, maybe even years, getting eaten up by stress
and anger over it all.
Myself, I've decided life's too short. If I want to put anything on the web
which I really don't want stolen I'll watermark it or something. Or not put
it up at all. Unfortunately life is full of a**holes who will stop at
nothing to screw you over for their own ends. That's life, and those people
will get screwed themselves someday. Everything comes full circle. I just
can't be doing with the stress. To bring it back to the example I was
involved with, at the start I used to say "there's only one thing that would
make me happier than seeing that company go under, and that's if I was the
one to push them under". Made myself ill with the stress of it in the end,
so gave up. Turned out the company did a pretty good job of it themselves,
nearly driving themselves into bankruptcy through appalling management !!
Now, changing the subject rather a lot .... one final twist in the tale, and
not a happy one. That company I was involved with was a Specialist TV /
Film Camera company. We used to put cameras in all sorts of odd places.
They started out with the CEO's father doing aerial filming from
helicopters, for a number of feature films. The sequence (at the end I
think) over the mountains for "seven years in Tibet" was one of his.
Beautiful stuff. His son took over, becoming CEO a few years ago. About a
month ago that CEO was doing what he loved best - aerial filming from a
helicopter, like his father. He was filming for the Dubai World Cup (big
Horse Race). The helicopter suffered critical mechanical failure of some
sort and both he and the pilot were killed.
Now, in some odd way, I feel guilty for wishing the company would fail.
Despite all they (and the CEO was at the forefront of the crimes !) did to
me and the other staff, what happened to him was a terrible tragedy. He
leaves behind a wife and two young children.
I know at least one of the people on this list can sympathise with the
horror of helicopter crashes, and I was heartened to hear his more cheerful
update a few weeks / months ago. Having heard the news about my ex-boss
recently, I take this opportunity to sincerely wish that list-member and his
son all the best, and I hope things continue to get better for both of them.
Right, I've waffled on enough. Good luck with it Roger, whichever route you
choose to take. Let us know how it turns out.
Regards,
Jon Mitchell
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