Someone Sent Me This Mean Message 2 Years Ago, and I Keep It on My Office Wall for Motivation
A little bit of backstory here... this is a good one!
This message came through to the Q's facebook page in November 2015, about six months after I started working on air here. I've been doing radio shows here in Maine since 2009, so I'm certainly used to my fair share of criticism. I'm nowhere close to the world's best radio personality, but I think I do a pretty good job! (#1 show in Maine according to the ratings, but whatever)...
Because we have such a huge following here at the Q, we get a TON of messages, letters, calls, you name it. I even have a special file in my drawer for letters that we get from inmates at the Cumberland County Jail! (true story - those are the best ones)
Even though this isn't close to the nastiest message I've ever received, it's one of my favorites. The gentleman who fired this off was a facebook friend of mine, and apparently didn't realize that I could read messages that get sent to the station's facebook page. He also hosted a "show" on a local community radio station, and I guess he thought he could do a much better job than I was doing, which is totally fair. (pro tip: this isn't how you get a job!) But the real reason why I love this message is that the phrase "I'll see what I can do" is radiospeak for "no." For example: when someone calls me up and requests Rebecca Black on the All Request Lunch, the standard response is "I'll see what I can do!" He immediately unfriended me as soon as he got my reply.
So, I keep this message on the bulletin board in my office, because 1) I think it's absolutely hilarious that someone would actually send something like this, and 2) it reminds me to never take myself or anything we do too seriously. We are all bugs living on a rock hurtling through space, and life isn't long enough to worry about crap like this.
Also, I have more listeners than he does!