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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

The Definition of Irony (I think....)

You know how nowadays, a lot of people put that little tag line at the end of their email signatures?

"Please consider the environment before printing this email"

For one thing, it annoys me. I know it's a nice sentiment and I do think we should make as much effort as we can to be "green"... but really? I know not to waste paper. And if I have to print the email it's because I HAVE to print the email, not because I want to be wasteful. Do people exist who print emails willy nilly for no reason? These people must not have to walk a quarter mile to the nearest office printer to do so like I do. And in any case, your little tag line, with it's little tree graphic isn't going to make or break my decision to print

But that is neither here nor there. The point of this post is to share with you something that cracks me right up. The point of this post is the irony that exists when you print the email, and that little tag line makes the email run onto a second page, with the second page being a blank sheet of paper, with that only litle tag line with it's little tree graphic at the top all by itself.

Ha!

11 comments:

DietCokeStraightUp said...

Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this!!!! And that stupid little line does run onto a 2nd page!!!!!! Sometimes, ya gotta print it!

Melissa @ I Pick Pretty said...

My thoughts on this exactly!

I work in a business notorious for generating great heaps of useless printouts, and as long as the olde tyme partners remain, it is (unfortunately) likely to stay that way. So I suppose that reminder might be good for them, but it has always struck conservationist me as fairly bossy.

Anonymous said...

Hell yeah there are still people who print willy-nilly. I think I work with most of them. Paraeducators, specials teachers, and resource room teahcers that print schedules and messages directed at classroom teachers. AND THEN NEVER COME TO PICK THEM UP!

People who print messages that say, "Does anyone have 5 copies of Hatchet?" Well you either do or you don't, do you need to waste a piece of paper and my toner on an email like that? Seriously?!

You hit a nerve with me. I could go on all day about what people print and then the waste they leave behind. And don't even go there with never turning off lights.

Melissa said...

LOL too funny!

Lots of people have that tag line at work and I hate it!

hope505 said...

omg that made me laugh SO hard!! I have never seen that little tagline, but it would annoy the HELL outta me. You are doing a public service with this post! *heehee!*

Kate said...

Ok I feel REALLY dumb right now but I thought this meant consider where you are printing this because someone might see it/it might be confidential/private. I didn't realize it meant the environment as in recycle. oops!

kate.d. said...

you know what cracked me up the other day? a foundation funding environmental projects that will not accept proposals via email - hard copy *only*. they go out of their way to tell you this, big bold letters on their website.

WTF! ha.

Dink said...

this IS ironic and I love it. you know what isn't ironic? rain on your wedding day.

eileen said...

Ah, great example of irony! And I hate that line, it feeds into my guilt complex and makes me feel guilty even though I never really print out emails. Stupid guilt-enducing-extra-page-causing tagline!

Lifeofkaylen said...

Ha -that is some fun irony!
I worked for a lady who saved every email in a very cat-lady like method, where every folder has 20 subfolders and each subfolder has 10 more and she deleted NOTHING, BUT if that wasn't enough---she also printed EVERY email she had and kept them in a filing cabinet with various folders. If it could go in two folders, she would print it twice. BUT - she would get irritated if one line of their signature printed on an extra page and she'd make a point of saying how wasteful that is.....

Michelle said...

Wow I think I am the only person at my work that doesn't have that little tree tagline on their emails. And yes it drives me crazy!!! I am all for the earth and saving the environment but I get really annoyed by how "trendy" going green is. We actually have a "green team" at work that is supposed to moniter employees and make sure we are being green.