Thursday, July 10, 2008

Two things

First, I've realized that I don't like Green & Black's chocolate. It's expensive. It's dry, and the flavor is flat. and I now have most of a bar of it sitting in my desk drawer because I'm not really interested in it, after having a nibble. Sigh.
Second, sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice to your doorman. There's a very nice gentleman who is the doorman in the building I work in. I say good morning every day, because that's the polite thing to do. I thank him when he holds an elevator for me, etc. Well, this afternoon he called me and said "There's a gentleman here who wants to talk to somebody and I don't know who he should talk to. Will you talk to him?" I, confused, said sure. And was then regaled with this random man's sob story about how he's crippled and ill and it was so difficult for him to get here and he knows that we don't take unsolicited manuscripts but he self-published a book and it got very good reviews and couldn't I find someone to take a look at it? UGH. I repeatedly told this man that I wouldn't know who to give it to, that we don't accepted unsolicited manuscripts, that there's nothing I can do for him. His response? "Well, I could've just mailed it if I'd known I couldn't get in. Couldn't you just get me in to talk to an editor for five minutes?" NO I CAN'T. That is NOT the way the publishing industry works. And him making me feel bad about saying no after he traveled three and a half hours does not make me want to help him! If he knows we don't accept unsolicited manuscripts, why was he trying to get me to take it?
Sorry for the rant. People like that really make me angry. He does NOT get special treatment for showing up on our doorstep. He does NOT get special treatment just because his self-pubbed book got good reviews. He has to go through the process, just like everybody else. And while I was perfectly polite to this man, I really wanted to tell him to piss off and then hang up. And then I wanted to call back and tell the doorman to never, EVER do that to me again! (I'm sure he was badgered into calling someone, anyone, by this pesky guy with the book to pitch, but still.)
And now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'll get back to work. Hopefully I'll manage a more upbeat post over the weekend!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh. my. God. That's insane!! I love that YOU of all people got this call. How random! Maybe you should have sent him to one of the many many agencies along fifth avenue, lol.

fleur_delicious said...

ach, poor Lo. We got that at the theatre all the time - though they allow a synopsis + reading sample of LOCAL playwrights (only) w/out an agent, we'd have people that are like "I'm a Pac-NW-er in spirit! REad my play!" as if being cute would get a foot in the door. Seriously, like no one's ever thought of THAT before. You don't live here and never have? Get an agent before you send your play.

Anonymous said...

Really?? You don't like Green and Blacks??? Maybe you've just had a stale bar or three... I'll get you yummmy fresh ones next time I'm in England....