The Name is Du-Mass

There's a bit of reading in the following text so I'll make this introduction short. This is a story about first impressions. This is a story about checking your work - and not just spelling and punctuation, but gender assignment. This is a story about humiliation.

As part of my work towards the pilot ratings and certificates I'm seeking, I'm also taking some ground courses associated with flying. One of my current courses is Air Taxi Operations. An assignment I'm currently working on is a report on a small aviation business. I chose a Pacific Northwest operator call SeaPort Airlines. I had done quite a bit of research on SeaPort, but was unable to find all the information I needed on the web or otherwise. I decided to contact an employee via email to see if I could obtain the missing pieces of information to complete my report. All I had was a name and an email address.

The following excerpts are from correspondence with Noel McDermott, Assistant Director of Operations, Portland.

Ms. McDermont,

I'm a student at the Northwest Aviation College in Auburn, WA ...(a lengthy email about my report and the information I was looking for...)

Scott Templin

The first email response from Noel...

Scott,

Three things:

One – I’m a dude, and not that you’d know this from the website, but I’m married too (so at a minimum it should have been Mrs.)

Two – I believe my name is spelled correctly on the website that you got my contact information from. I’ve known of numerous letters to prospective employers or industry contacts that have made a “wall of fame” for their humorously gross errors in titles, yours is close.

Third - (the information I had requested for my report)

Noel McDermott

My response...

Noel,

Thanks for the quick, in-depth, reply and my most sincere apologies for completely snarfing your name.

In response I will say three things as well:

1) A quick recap of a conversation I had with my wife. Me, "Hey honey, is 'Noel' a boy or girls name?" My wife, "It's a girl's name. Why do you ask?" Me, "I'm writing an email. Thanks."

2) The misspelling of your last name lies squarely on my shoulders. A mistake I surely hope I would never have made if I was submitting a resume, as I would have checked everything in triplicate before submission. The "Ms" is also my doing as my schooling taught me it was a non-marital expression for any female. Miss for unmarried, Mrs for married, and Ms if you were unsure. Again - reference part 1 for the gender assignment mistake.

3) ... (expressed thanks for him providing the information, even after my blunder)

More recently this morning I received the following email.

Scott,

After much contemplation, I’ve decided that with the humorous additions from your pre email conversations, this does indeed make the wall.

Fly Safe,

I informed Mr. McDermott I would also be posting the emails on my wall-o-shame, I mean, blog.

So kids, what did we learn today? I like to think the lesson is obvious. If not, watch the appropriate YouTube video. LINK HERE