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"Win a Date with Pete Corless!" |
Response from people was rather enthusiastic at first. But it never really got the kind of responses I was hoping for. Not a single poem! Not even a single "official" entry. But the good news was there were a lot of curious inquiries and encouraging letters.
| Women who said generally encouraging things (that's cute/that's funny*): | 4 |
| Women who said it was cute but they were already married/engaged/had a date: | 3 |
| Women who were somewhat interested, but never followed up with an entry: | 1 |
| Guys who wanted to know if they could have my cast-off entrants: | 1 |
| People who were just wondering if it was working: | 3 |
| People who wish they had thought of it first: | 2 |
| People who asked me to help them create their own home pages: | 2 |
| People who said I should contact a lawyer to review applications: | 1 |
| People who said Jeff Cunningham better come in a dress if this didn't work: | 1 |
We reviewed the letters, looked at some pictures of people from work on our Intranet, and found someone who looked suitable. Her entire "entry" consisted of the message "Great homepage!" Not a resoundingly enthusiastic application, but what the heck. We had decided. To her, I wrote the following missive:
My judging panel has informed me: You have won! :-D Your elegant reply was judged to be the best of the thousands of replies that have flooded our mailbox. You have 48 hours to claim your prize. -Peter. p.s. Void where prohibited by law or HR policy.
Okay, so I exaggerated a little with the "thousands" remark. Her response was impassioned, if nothing else.
> huh? so what did my elegant comment win? > > shame on you !!!!!!!!!
I mean, look at all those exclamation marks!
Undaunted I sent back to her the official winner's notification:
You responded & entered the contest I announced a few weeks back, the "Win a Date with Pete Corless" contest. As the sole prize winner, you recieve: - A free ticket to the Company Party - A full evening of entertainment, including dinner and dancing - Complimentary compliments Plus an Extra Added Bonus!!! - An optional pre-Company-Party-party with friends of mine from college Details about the contest & prize (me) can be found here: Win a Date with Peter Corless http://www.employees.org:80/~pcorless/bachelor.html -Pete.
Well, that was the last I heard from the official "winner"; she never dropped by or called to pick up her prize, and I couldn't say she's at fault. Ah well!
I wish that was the end of the experience, but -- yes! -- there's more. The Wednesday before the party, I came down with the worst cold & flu you can imagine. Missed the next two days of work, which I hardly ever do. Stuffy-head-aching-so-you-can't-rest-medicine-kinda-ill. Cough & cold, and perhaps a fever, but no worse. Just enough to be debilitating. I saw it as a mixed blessing. Even though it destroyed my chances at attending the company party, it saved me the sorrow and humiliation of showing up alone, especially after all the interest. I also missed my friends from college too, and spent Saturday of the party zonked out, sleeping sixteen hours of the day in bed.
-Pete.