Sunday, September 23, 2012

"Surprise?"

So last night just before 10, I was half asleep on the couch, laptop in my lap, when a "ping" alerted me to an incoming e-mail.

It was from a Canadian pregnancy and parenting magazine -- which, for obvious reasons, I haven't touched for years.

"Your Pregnancy: Week 5: Taking Care of You." it read.

WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said to dh "What the...??!!!" and showed him the e-mail.  


"Umm, is there something you're not telling me?" he said.  

"I'm almost 52 years old, with not exactly a stellar track record in these matters. What do YOU think??" 

The first line of the e-mail reads, "Still trying to process the fact that you're pregnant?" And a little below, a section that reads:  "Surprise?... If your pregnancy was planned, you're probably feeling overjoyed right now. If, however, you were taken by surprise by that plus sign on the pregnancy test, you probably have some mixed emotions right now. You're not alone."


Needless to say, "surprise" doesn't even BEGIN to describe what I was feeling at that moment. Was someone playing a cruel joke on me?

I thought about sending a return e-mail saying, "You are barking up the WRONG tree, people!" Instead, I just clicked on the "unsubscribe" button and went to bed, shaking my head.


Then, this afternoon, I logged into Facebook -- and there was one of my ALI friends posting that SHE had received the exact same e-mail. Many of her friends chimed in that they, too, had received an e-mail, and that, if the buzz on Twitter was any indication, half the female population of Canada had too.  

There is nothing about it on the magazine's website at the moment -- but they did post an apology on their Facebook page, saying they are trying to get to the bottom of what happened. Some people think it's hilarious -- but not surprisingly, there are also quite a few people who are (quite rightly) pissed off, many of them mentioning infertility & miscarriages, and many wondering how the heck their names got on this particular mailing list. I'm guessing it's either some weird technical glitch, or some hacker's idea of a practical joke.

But it's comforting to know I wasn't the only one.

15 comments:

  1. Wow. Just wow. Should be interesting to see what that apology looks like. Still, I would have been pretty upset. Maybe it could lead to good things though (piece about infertility and loss for starters would be nice).

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  2. I would have been livid. Sorry for whatever "glitch" it was that sent that. That's pretty awful.

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  3. Holy moly! You are a better woman than I for not writing back some choice words. I hope their "apology" gets better.

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  4. Er... WTF indeed.

    These people deserve an absolute caning. How confronting and upsetting! Makes me wonder where our mailing list details really end up. Yep, file that one in the Recycle Bin.

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  5. How horrible to receive newsletter like that!

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  6. So much for companies not holding on to personal information. Their personal apology had better be profuse AND sincere.

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  7. That is awful! They need to do some classy damage control, stat.

    I am so sorry :(

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  8. OMG. No matter how far away I am from TTC, such a thing would still carry a sting.

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  9. Oh, jeez. It's one of those situations that never should have happened, but maybe it's also like those moments that I experience where I know the 'old me' would have found it funny, and I wish I could just shrug it off with a laugh instead of feeling all kinds of sensitive about it. I wish it hadn't happened, but more than that, I wish it didn't sting.

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  10. There is a link to a (brief) apology on their website home page today:

    http://www.todaysparent.com/

    http://www.todaysparent.com/parenting/our-sincerest-apologies

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  11. Oh -- and in case there was ever any doubt -- Aunt Flo showed up today, more or less on schedule. Take that, TP. :p

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  12. I'd be livid too- I'd send an email such colorful that they'd probably ban me away from the website..... I'm sorry that it happened to you!

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  13. WOW. I can't even imagine how embarrassed they must be ... and whose head is rolling for that one!

    Thanks for stopping by, loribeth ... and re: your last post ... I'm right there with you. Blogging rut seems to abound. Glad you put fingers to keyboard anyway!

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  14. I actually susbribe to that newsletter and I didn't get that. Weird. Sounds like an opportunity for you to submit an article about what that feels like.

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  15. Ughhhh.. We at least you weren't alone, but what a screw up! I would have been so annoyed. I am glad they published an apology.

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