This is why I’m a freak.

A spelling, vocabulary, and grammar freak, that is.

Growing up, I had the distinct pleasure of being educated by some of the toughest Catholic School lay teachers you’d imagine.  I didn’t have the “nun” experience – that was more of my parents’ generation – but I had some tough teachers nonetheless.

And I thank my lucky stars for them.  And for my parents who made the decision to send me to said schools. 

Every week, we had spelling and vocabulary words we had to learn and use correctly.  We had grammar lessons, including dreaded sentence diagramming, reading and comprehension lessons, and so on.  The English Language was drilled and re-drilled into our impressionable little minds and all the while we all wondered, why do we need to know this?  I mean, is it really that important?

Well folks, I’m going to answer that question today.

I have a lovely vacation home in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and I rent it out on a fairly regular basis.  Almost every day I receive inquiries about the home and most of the time, I am able to understand what people are asking of/saying to me. 

Until today.

Below is an exact copy of the email I received today (with the email address x’d out) from a woman who, from what I can make of it, would like to rent my cabin in August.  But first, a little background info:

This woman had first contacted me via phone (at night, on Valentine’s Day… needless to say I didn’t answer).  She left a message and sounded normal enough.  I was going to call her the next day, but in the meantime, she had gone to my website and filled out an info form, and she also went to VacationRentals411 and Flipkey – found my home on both sites – and sent me messages from those sites’ information forms.  Her messages were short and difficult to understand.  So, I sent a simple response to her.  Twice.  Today, this is what I found in my email inbox:

From: “XXXXX400@verizon.net” <XXXXX400@verizon.net>
To: hilltopviewvacations@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Hilltop View Lodge Rental Inquiry 

Andrea  thank you for sending me that  hilltop view link that was very helpful that place on homeaway not yours but on the vac.911 they don’t have any  rentals showing at all in aug. why?? maybe something want to check into  you have info here and there but iam glad i found it and wish we could of stayed but unfortunately my mom’s a school bus driver and has to be back by the 20th a week before school they have meetings before school starts and the one run she has only gets off in aug. but i did want to say loved your place set up nice – dead end  FYI  that you had fire pit and game room  pool table  dartboard we like to play them  (not sure if had air hockey but would be great for adults and younger children to play together they can do that and feel big they can play big game with big people and 2 younger can handle themselves )  but these were the extra’s you had that out of the 4 i was looking at even though had 3 not 4 bedrooms you had great loft set up that would of worked great!!! made you my first choice . sadden we cant vac at your place will definitely keep in mind if in area again  Bernie 

If you had the same reaction, or if your head hurts, that’s a good sign.  It probably means you have a decent grasp of the English language.  If you actually understood Bernie’s note, I suggest you stop reading here and back slowly away from your computer.

 

I gather that this woman is either just a touch crazy, or she has a job that doesn’t require the consistent, correct use of the English language.  I have a very poor impression of her, and feel terrible for her, and her friends and family – especially if she has a Facebook account.  Or access to any form of writing media whatsoever.

 

This is why I’m a spelling, vocabulary, and grammar freak:  because sometimes the first impression you make isn’t in person, and whether it’s online or on paper, it still has to be good!  

 

Damn it, people – it matters! 

 

And for the record, no, Catholic School was not like this:

 

Though, we tried.