Only the First Two Lines

This is a lesson I hope will stay with me for a very long time.

A month ago, as part of a committee I am with, for work purposes, I sent two nomination forms for an annual provincial award. One nominated a peer whose leadership and dedication are deserving of recognition as "Professional Achievement" and the other for a group I lead to bring a major event to our local youth for an award called "Initiative of the Year".

As nominator I knew I would receive a copy of the letter telling the nominee of the awards event.  Two days ago I received a copy of the letter for the nomination for "Professional Achievement".  I was disappointed to see that someone else's name appeared as nominee and my name was also not on the letter as nominator.  Thus I called the organisation to request a change.  The revised letter appeared in my in-box shortly there after.

The next day I received another letter.  I did not open it at first because I knew what it was for. Later that day, the organization that my co-chair works for emailed asking, why, if I had nominated their worker, did I not request a letter of recommendation from them. Curious I opened the invitation email to discover that although the name of the award and the nominated group (and name of my co-chair) were correct, in the body of the letter the description of the award category was for "Professional Achievement" not "Initiative of the Year".  Again, I emailed requesting a correction.

To my surprise, the lady who sent the emails called me and asked, "What is your problem?"  She explained that the name of the group, the chair and the award were all correct.  I asked her to open the invitation and then to read the second paragraph.  She read aloud and then paused, "oh, I see....well, normally people do not read beyond the first two lines."  She promised to send a revision shortly.

I remained polite and withheld my laughter until I hung up the receiver.

Lesson to be learned, when dealing with any branch of government - and you receive a letter - just read the first two lines, like normal people do!