Urban Legends E-mail from Co-workers

[melaniered]

I usually reply with the link to the page that includes...

***
WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE!
Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.

"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.

"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."

Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.

Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:

The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking.
The urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others.
A lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true.
***

and of course it goes on, but you can visit the link for yourself.  (http://bob.bob.bofh.org/~robm/manual/virus/gullibility.html)

Enjoy!

LanieRed

[Venus193]

The company I worked for when e-mail went into orbit disabled the capability to e-mail the whole office in one stroke for anyone below senior management level.  There had been a few chain e-mails and spam that had annoyed the wrong person and they decided to nip the problem in the bud.

Having said that, I do not consider it rude to debunk an urban legend.

[MamaMootz]

Funny you should post this-just yesterday I got an email forward from a co worker about how Target (a) is a French company (B) hates veterans and (C) doesn't allow Salvation Army Bell Ringers in front of their stores(this one's true but they send SA a huge check every year.

Oh, I really, really hate that Target one. Hate it. Target has had a longstanding policy disallowing any solicitation in front of their stores. For years, they made an exception for the Salvation Army. When they stopped making that exception, people were all up in arms about the supposed "banning" of the Salvation Army. It's ridiculous.

I had a lady that started working with me (we both started a new job on the same day) that was telling me all about this - Target suppored only "gay" organizations and "gay" causes and "hates the military" so "no good American would EVER shop there." I asked her where she got this information and she forwarded the e-mail to me.

Now, apparently the way this got started was, there was a guy who was trying to get Target to donate to an armed services related charity and Target turned them down. He went to a local store and the local store did not refer him to the corporate giving department, so he started telling his buddies that Target refuses to support our soliders. Apparently that started the whole e-mail campaign ever though the original guy has told everyone he got it straightened out and wants the hateful e-mail to stop.

So I forwarded said lady above the Snopes link showing her all of this. Her response? "Well, they still don't let the bell ringers go on our front, so I'm still not shopping there. They love gays." Yes in her mind they automatically support gays because they banned the bell ringers. There is no reasoning with such a person and it's best to let it go, so
I gave up. Funny thing is, my workplace has a strict policy on not forwarding any of those e-mails and anyone who does so can be terminated immediately.

As for me personally, I always forward the Snopes link every time I get one. I don't care who sends it to me because I believe that educating someone who is a) believing everything they get in their in-box and b) forwarding it to me even though I haven't heard from them in like 3 months deserves to know they are sending out spam. It's not rude to point out someone's error as long as it's done gently.

[kherbert05]

I had enough at work the other day. Someone sent out a "this is a funny video" email. Of course You Tube is blocked by Bess. So then I get teachers complaining they can't watch the video - and with the way my room is set up I can't beat my Head against the wall for relief, and the librarian worries about me when I do it in the doorway between the lab and library.

I sent out a email the first paragraph was a send up of the Little Johnny has cancer and wants to break the record for Chrismas cards - except Little Johnny is in his late 20's now, been in remission for over a decade, hasn't lived at the address given for 4 years and the new residents are tired of being flooded with Christmas Cards.

Then I said as gently as possible that
a) Mass emails are against policy and they clog up our limited bandwith which everyone is always complaining about.
b) All emails are archived by the district and subject to the open records act.
c) It look unprofessional
d) go home and take a little tour of You Tube and you will understand why Bess Blocks it.

Several thank you's no complaints about this from the staff.

[Reika]

I've always found the spam emails to be annoying, generally I ignored them and the same with most of my friends. Fortunately I've ended up working at places that had strict email policies and scanned regularly for the spam, anyone who sent such things generally got in trouble. However there was one spam email that still angers me to this day though thankfully it seems to have died out. It was one that contained pictures supposedly taken from the top of the World Trade Center when the planes crashed into it on September 11th, it was quickly debunked due to all sorts of obvious errors. Just the fact some sick person came up with those for whatever reason was bad enough, but then people kept sending it around even after they'd been told they were frauds! I had the same people send it 2-3 times a week and finally set it up so their emails automatically went into my trash folder. It had been a very painfully emotional day for many people, and I wasn't the only ones they were sending the email to.

They finally got the hint when pretty much everyone stopped responding to their emails, some of which were important for different things going on amongst us.

[Belle]

Every time I get one I go into the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror with the lights out and chant "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary". Then I wait for the homicidal maniac in the UPS uniform to come and kill me, since I've got all that bad luck from those chain emails that I haven't been returning because I'm such a bad friend and I don't love Jesus and there is no one who cares enough about me to be a good enough friend to recieve those emails from me anyway...by the way, where is that check Microsoft was supposed to be sending me??
I love Snopes, I send it to everyone. Are they still passing around that thugs under the car thing? God that was going around back when I was in junior high, during the reign of the Tudors....

Ahhh hahahahahhahahah *gasp, gasp, gasp* hahahahahaha!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go apologize to my coworkers for laughing hysterically in the middle of a quiet workday.

[HogwartsAlum]

Every time I get one I go into the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror with the lights out and chant "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary". Then I wait for the homicidal maniac in the UPS uniform to come and kill me, since I've got all that bad luck from those chain emails that I haven't been returning because I'm such a bad friend and I don't love Jesus and there is no one who cares enough about me to be a good enough friend to recieve those emails from me anyway...by the way, where is that check Microsoft was supposed to be sending me??
I love Snopes, I send it to everyone. Are they still passing around that thugs under the car thing? God that was going around back when I was in junior high, during the reign of the Tudors....

CRUD MONKEYS!....ROTFL...that is so funny. 

I always send Snopes to people who send me those things.  And I risk the wrath of God by deleting the religious ones. 

I had to call my sister back around the Bush/Kerry election because she would not stop sending me anti-Bush emails.  I emailed her back once, twice, then finally called and said "Would ya QUIT IT!"  I just got tired of it cluttering up my inbox. 

[Venus193]

At the risk of riling some people I have to say that if there is a Supreme Being, I'm sure She would be very upset at people wasting time over such chain e-mails. 

[avonlea29]

I am a Christian, but it it's highly irritating when my cousin will send me (and about 30 other people) the "if you love Jesus" or other Christian-themed inspiration emails.  She doesn't just send one, but on average there are about 6 or 7 that she sends all at once.  I've become so used to deleting the whole bunch that I'm afraid I might end up missing a legitimate email from her.

What really irks me is that my dh's aunt sends me these ALL the time (along with the hoaxes) and she isn't even a Christian. That to me is worse. So fake. Her messages now go into my junk mail b/c I rarely open them. I usually catch the legit e-mails, but she only sends legit ones every 6 months or so and all they are is bragging on her 2 bratty toddler grandsons.

[avonlea29]

I love this...just wish I wasn't too chicken to send it. lol

The perfect response!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me your chain letters over the past two years.

Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Because of your concern...

I no longer can drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the phone bill from hell with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer eat pre-packaged foods because the estrogens they contain will turn me gay.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer date the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. (Jeeze, the BIBLE did not mention it works that way!)

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

Yes, I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me!

I will now return the favor.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at 5:00 pm this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend's neighbor's cousin, and he's a lawyer.

[scotcat]

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at 5:00 pm this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend's neighbor's cousin, and he's a lawyer.
 
OK, OK, I will. Heaven forbid that I should be flea ridden and crapped on!

ROFLMAO indeed.
 

[scotcat]

I love Snopes, I send it to everyone. Are they still passing around that thugs under the car thing? God that was going around back when I was in junior high, during the reign of the Tudors....

In the latter days of Elizabeth I rather than the early days of Henry VII, I hope.

[kingsrings]

I love Snopes, I send it to everyone. Are they still passing around that thugs under the car thing? God that was going around back when I was in junior high, during the reign of the Tudors....

I spent years believing that one and was scared to death walking to my car at night. My mother had heard it from someone else and passed it on to me as a warning. The story I was told was that there was this gang in Chicago that had an initiation rite in which their prospective members had to rape a blond. They hid underneath the cars and slit the ankle tendons of blondes when they came to their cars, then raped them.
Another one that scared me was when Dear Abby published one of these stories as fact. It was the one about never leaving your house keys along with your car keys at the auto repair shop because a worker there could make a copy of your house keys, then show up at your house to rape you. Dear Abby should of known better than to publish junk like that and unneccesarily scare her readers.

[hobish]

I love this...just wish I wasn't too chicken to send it. lol

The perfect response!

Avonlea, i don;t want to take up a whole screen re-quoting your response, but that was brilliant. Can i steal that? I'd like to make it a word doc & send it to a few people i know ...

[avonlea29]

I love this...just wish I wasn't too chicken to send it. lol

The perfect response!

Avonlea, i don;t want to take up a whole screen re-quoting your response, but that was brilliant. Can i steal that? I'd like to make it a word doc & send it to a few people i know ...

"Steal" away! I didn't write it anyway.