Saturday 1 October 2011

Let's Party!


So …. October!

The month of memories, Indian Summers and my Mum’s birthday.

So, what better way to start the month than by showing you Serge’s e-mail?

Well – with a birthday party clearly – you know the sort of thing, a Gazebo on the grass, guitars, a fire, champagne, friends singing, smiles… there will be stars in the heavens, someone who can’t be there to share, someone who drinks a bit too much and someone will probably cry.

But there will laughter and tales, and who knows…….. a new tomorrow?

Failing all that of course – an e-mail from Serge will have to suffice......

When you have a blog you attract a lot of splog – much the stuff I get is in languages I don’t understand with a lot of links to websites I don’t WANT to understand.

But Serge was better than that – he sent me an e-mail.

Here it is

Hello!

I'm so glad that someone else reads books :) I found Tortilla Flat in your profile, it is one of my favorite ones! 


I just want to thank you for your wonderful blog bitsnbobsshowntell.blogspot.com.

I read the first post "Bits 'n Bob's/Show 'n Tell" and then I spent another hour on your blog by reading your posts with pleasure :) Every article is interesting and easy to read. I really like the "OFF -The Shelf 9".


I work for Jooble company, we aggregate job adverts around the world.

My job is to persuade bloggers to link to our site.

I really love my job! We have a friendly team and good management, but unfortunately I have no idea how to convince a blogger to link to us, I'm afraid I might lose my job because of it :(


And that is why, instead of sending letters to thousands of different blogs, I am reading yours.


Honestly, I am not really sure if the link to our website in France - jooble-fr.com, will be appropriate for your blog, but if you believe it will and it is possible to add it, I would be really grateful to you!
Our site is really cool, it can greatly help hundreds of people to find a job.


I wish you to have a good day and excellent mood! Thanks again for your nice blog. Write more! Thanks!


P.S. I am a Verseau by zodiac sign too :)
Best regards,


Serge Lavange
Account Manager


Now I have to admit his personal approach is impeccable.

He could have put all that into the comments, but he didn’t – he wrote directly to my email box.

Good man that Serge.

Ok, I doubted him a bit when he said that Off –The shelf 9 was really enjoyable – I had hardly written anything on that post, but he had looked at my profile, found my favourite book, found my email and offered enough compliments to interest me.

How vain is that!

Still I would have to question the contention that his site is “cool” – I looked at it and I wouldn’t us that word myself – still it isn’t uncool.

I think the suggestion that he might loose his job for reading my blog is over the top but I think the fact that I have about three readers may limit my usefulness to him.

Still I wrote back to him, email to email and I promised that I would put this here today.

If he still has his job I guess he will look in, in which case I hope he leaves a comment.

I pull short of adding a permanent link to his site as it is too big a compromise on my anti-advertising stance, but there’s a link above here somewhere if you need a job.

Of course, there’s a possibility that he won’t read this, maybe he’s at a party someplace.

Lucky sod, ‘cos I’m missing out on that!

In which case I wish him, and all the party folk to have a good day and excellent mood!

40 comments:

Cecilia Levy said...

Hello Popps! I found you when I googled Serge Lavanges name - I got an identical email as you..! Just change the title of the book, the title of the blogpost he found enjoyable, he spent an hour blabla etc etc. Ha! I spent several minutes on my reply to him - which I realise now, I'm not going to send - what's the point? He's not going to read it anyway. Cheers!

popps said...

Hi Cecilia it's a pleasure to meet you, i don't know anyone in Sweden and certainly no one as talented as you. I looked at your webpage and - wow!
Still we must consider the (very unlikely) possibility that Serge has picked JUST the two of us out of the millions.
In which case i am honoured to be alongside you.

Anonymous said...

Serge's letter made me laugh out loud and for that I like him and might try and get a job x
Are you reading my comments???

popps said...

I am! I am!
Did i miss one?

Cecilia Levy said...

I want to think good of people but something happens inside of me when I get email from people like Serge. Something dies... But then again - you and I discovered each others blogs! Soo maybe I should thank Serge?

popps said...

Well i am certainly happy that i have discovered yours, and happy that you are commenting here again.

Don't let that bit of you die though - serge is just serge, maybe you can turn a paper version of his email into something beautiful?

Or burn it at midnight and sing?

maybe i'm getting carried away.

Greg Rudzinski said...

Received the same form letter from Serge today. I think it is a BOT drumming up hits for an employment web sight. Ironic isn't it that an account manager for an employment sight is worried about getting the ax :-/ Exactly what happens when a BOT gets fired ? ;-)

popps said...

Hi Greg, thanks for taking the time to visit and leave a comment.
Serge the BOT is doing excellent work - i have had two new visitors because of him!
I'm thinking of opening my blog to more BOTs just to see if i can increase readership!!

Jim Donahue said...

Just got the same message. I knew I was going to find it elsewhere online.

popps said...

Hi Jim
We could start a club?

Jessica G. said...

Well, if you started that club, I would join. Not just because I got a nearly identical email from Mr. Lavange but because I am a total joiner.
This is the second email I'd gotten this week about a company that just loved my blog and wanted me to be some sort of affiliate or whatever. Hey, I'm not in blogging for the fame and money! :)

popps said...

Hi Jessica, thanks for visiting, i am going to have to write to the non-existent serge to thank him. My readership has soared since i posted this page.
in fact i'm thinking of sending out serge-type emails to people and then post about them as a tactic!
by the way, may i say, Jessica is a so cool name.

Lelainia N. Lloyd said...

Apparently the bot is making the rounds. I too got the identical email, except for the person details gleaned from my blog. I can't tell you how anti-adverts I am. Over the years I've had all sorts of businesses try and loop me into drumming up business for them. NOT happening. Ever. I came here by way of Googling our buddy Serge. I have to say that the generators of sp*m are getting more creative.

Judy Cohen said...

I can hardly believe how far and wide the bot has traveled."Serge" emailed me a nearly identical message and at first I thought, "How nice that someone from outside the US is reading my blog" and then I woke up and googled him. what did we ever do without the Internet? Glad to be in such fine company. I'm all for the club idea.
Judy

Elisabeth said...

I'd like to join your club. In Googling Serge I found you. Funny, I trust you to be 'real', more than I trust Serge.

I keep a blog to communicate with other bloggers, readers and writers and artists of all ilk. I do not blog to advertise. Nor do I blog to help people find jobs as JOOBLE seems to offer.

I'm pleased to meet you and your blog, Chris, all the way from Australia.

My email from Serge, which reads a lot like his to you, with details altered follows. There's a phone number, too. Perhaps we could ring him to speak to the 'real' Serge:

It's referenced as Great blog. It occurred to me soon after I read the email that this man has read the titles to my posts but pounds to peanuts he's not read a word of them beyond their titles. His style is too formulaic.

Hello!
I just want to thank you for your wonderful blog sixthinline.blogspot.com.

I read the post "My heart was in the right place" and then I spent another hour on your blog by reading your posts with pleasure :) Every article is interesting and easy to read. I really like the "My mother: an anemone buried in the sand.".

I work for Jooble company, we aggregate job adverts around the world.

My job is to persuade bloggers to link to our site.

I really love my job! We have a friendly team and good management, but unfortunately I have no idea how to convince a blogger to link to us, I'm afraid I might lose my job because of it :(

And that is why, instead of sending letters to thousands of different blogs, I am reading yours.

Honestly, I am not really sure if the link to our website in Australia - jooble-au.com, will be appropriate for your blog, but if you believe it will and it is possible to add it, I would be really grateful to you! Our site is really cool, it can greatly help hundreds of people to find a job.

I wish you to have a good day and excellent mood! Thanks again for your nice blog. Write more! Thanks!
Best regards,
Serge Lavange
Account Manager

Sorry for the long comment but invitations to our vanity like this deserve to be exposed.

popps said...

Blimey!
Welcome all of you, i'm glad you dropped in , and hope you come back - or will i have to wait for the next Serge moment?

Elisabeth said...

I'm sure I'll be back before you hear from Serge again.

He certainly inspired a response, based on your response to him, her, it, or whoever it was that produced these formulaic and infuriating requests.

popps said...

Elisabeth, shouldn't you be asleep in Australia!!?:-)
I too just went to your blog, i wanted to read about the anemone in the sand, got distracted by the first post which made me think about an article i read two days ago and wanted to quote to you , but then i got overwhelmed by the fact you had 50 comments already ANd i realised i had used the newspaper to light the fire (autumn and a bit of winter here in Europe) but i'll be back.

Elisabeth said...

I'm not asleep yet, Popps. It's only 9 pm. We're on daylight savings in this part of Australia and even so I'm rarely in bed before midnight.

What a pity you couldn't find your quote. Never mind. It might come back to you in some form or another in the fullness of time.

Please don't be daunted by the number of comments on my blog. In so far as it's possible, I try to have conversations and so I tend to respond to each and everyone over time.

This therefore multiplies the line of comments by at least two, if not three, depending on the rate of exchange.

Thanks for trying.

popps said...

I like conversation Elisabeth, good for the soul. I wanted to say that something in your profile about who you are rang a bell. I tried here on my blog, in June, to do a self portrait month. I'm not sure how successful it was but i'm pretty sure a psyche could have a field day.

Unknown said...

Good morning from the USA! Ah how that Serge is making the rounds. I too received the same formulaic message for my blog. However he didn't even bother to look at any thing that was a favorite of mine...tsk tsk he is getting lazy. Anyway, Popps I love your attitude that he is bringing you more readers...makes me think that I should post about his scam on my blog too!

popps said...

Hi Melissa, good late afternoon from France, i hope you have a great day. over there. the wind is soft and warm here, rain thinking about it but not.
Ok that's the weather (I'm English).
I reckon you should add the word Serge to every post, or maybe even name the whole Blog after the guy.

Unknown said...

Popps, LOL. It is lightly raining here in New Jersey. But it is cool outside and the leaves are changing color. A slight wind is blowing those that have already fallen...ah I love autumn!

popps said...

Ah Autumn!
Ah New Jersey Girl!
What was it the man sang....?
"I got no time for the corner boys, down in the street making all that noise...."
I hope someone has sung it to you recently.
If not - consider it so! :-)

Peter Cooper said...

Please allow me to join the throng! I got the Serge email this evening and, I have to admit, it sounded pretty sincere with all the compliments and the specific references to actual blog posts and so on. Still, I had my suspicions, which is why I'm glad I googled good old Serge and came straight to this site.

Good old Serge. I hope he does drop in some time and see the growing fan base he has.

popps said...

Hi Peter
welcome to this corner of the serge-mobile!
I am impressed by how you folk all googled his name - something i clearly omitted to do!

Saaz Aggarwal said...

Serge found me today! Mailed him back to say: "Thank you Serge. You are wonderful. And you’re famous too! Check this: http://bitsnbobsshowntell.blogspot.com/2011/10/lets-party.html"

popps said...

Saaz, what have you done!!
Will there be an army of bots marching to our doors?
Will we be targeted by, by, ...er... IT?

Norma Bennett said...

Hello Chris, greetings from another Australian blogger, can I join this party too? I've had a visit from Serge as well :) He's clearly very busy, he's also got a little promo entry on Facebook and according to the Linkedin profile he's located in the Ukraine. I like Saaz's strategy of inviting him to your party - who know's, he may even turn up!

popps said...

Hi Norma, thanks for taking the time to stop by.
It seems that Serge is targeting Australia heavily!

*Michael Onobote* said...

Aha! I knew it!
Mr Serge stormed Nigeria recently and sent me same mail.

He replied to the response I gave and I still find it hard to believe it's a BOT.
Seems Serge is gonna make you popular LOL!

popps said...

Hi Michael, welcome!
Nigeria - cool!
And a VERY cool profile picture you have there!

S.R. Piccoli said...

Hi Popps, same message here. I think this man is a remarkable and rare exception. I hope he will succeed in his task, even though I'm afraid I personally can't be of any help to him.

All the best
Rob

popps said...

Hi Rob, glad you popped in.
It's all happening in Italy right now!

Virtual Assistant from Chennai, India said...

Are we here with the "real" Serge?

popps said...

hello Uma, welcome.
IS there a "real" serge?
is there a real you?
is there a real me???
ok, that's probably as much philosophy as my blog can handle :-)

Heather said...

Ah, Serge has now found his way to Los Angeles! I am anti-advertising as well and was immediately suspicous of the email, especially considering my statistical counter showed nothing about the specific blogs of mine that "he" wrote about.

Thanks for the laugh!
Hettie/CelticMommy

popps said...

Hi Hettie
Thanks for taking time to say hello.
Now...... CelticMommy - Irish roots?

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this! I was wondering what you know about industrial boilers in Brisbane. Any insight would be very helpful.

popps said...

Brisbane's industrial boilers?
Lost for words.
Sorry