Clueless or Sarcastic? You Decide

I post my email rather prominently on the upper right corner of the blog. As a result, it's easy to contact me. Sometimes people send stories, comment about their schools, or complain about the awful things I've written.

Other times, though, people want me to read their book, call them for an interview, view their film, try their hairspray, buy a genuine college diploma, or simply advertise their products on this site. Were I to do all these things, I wouldn't have time to go to work, let alone write the blog.

Yesterday I received this email, which I'm redacting so as not to identify the sender:

Dear NYC Educator,

I'm writing you regarding (a product or service)

The (product or service) (is amazing, wonderful, etc.) and would be of great interest to readers of Eduwonk. Please see below for (more info) and please let us know if you'd be interested in (using the product or service) for coverage consideration.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you and best regards,

(Insert name here)

Boy, you'd think they'd bother to personalize their mass mailings. I wrote back:

Thank you for letting me know the (product or service) will be of great interest to readers of Eduwonk. I suggest you contact Andrew Rotherham, who writes Eduwonk, as he will be in a better position to let those readers know about it

.

And I received this reply:

Thanks for your reply. I've actually already emailed Andrew Rotherman and am waiting to hear back.

Oddly, I was already aware of this. But I wrote back anyway:

Better sit while you wait.

I received this reply:

Duly noted. If you know Andrew personally, would you mind forwarding my email about (product or service) to him in the hopes that it would garner a faster reply?

At this point I stopped responding. But I really wonder--was (Insert name here) matching my sarcasm--or is this person as clueless as it appears on the surface?