I got an email today. I haven’t written anything in what seems like a year, but this nonsense might get me to take some time off starting up my new business and writing something here occasionally.
Sidenote before I publish this twits email in full — I’ve decided to turn off comments on all the posts I do on this site from now on. I really never come back and read them or reply to them, so it really isn’t worth while having them. If you want to tweet something at me, or apparently if you want to send me some long email diatribe about something I write… feel free. I might publish it.
By the way, here is the post this guy is talking about in this email.
Side story I’ve never told about this post actually, now that I’m typing this up. I dated (well, dated might not be the right word, but I “hung out with”) a German woman for a few weeks during my round-the-world trip when I was in Africa. I published this post about three months later, as I went through Germany on that trip.
She emailed me up out of the blue with an email that would be summarized as something like “how dare you ever think you could ever understand a country after being there for just a few weeks — there is no way I will ever talk to you again.” Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have saved that email to publish right next to this one.
So this guy isn’t the only person on the planet with no sense of humor whatsoever.
And to be clear, in case anyone has any questions — I love Germany. I think I’ve been there more than any country in the world. It is a great place. Hell, I even love both Berlin and Munich, which frankly is more than I can say for almost any German I’ve meet.
Viva Germany!!
Wait… I hope this guy doesn’t find this post. There is absolutely NO way he’ll understand the tongue-in-cheek nature of it. And even if you don’t want to click through, you gotta appreciate this video:
In any case, here ya go. I haven’t gotten one of these emails in a long, long time. I’d proud to be back. Thanks S. Oakley. I owe ya.
I’ll buy you a ticket to a stand-up show next time I see ya.
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On Jul 2, 2015, at 1:43 PM, S. Oakley <simplepog@gmail.com> wrote:
I just belatedly came across your post about jaywalking in Germany. Thanks for providing such a perfectly clueless example of why Americans aren’t welcome everywhere. You’re a guest in someone else’s country and, instead of showing a modicum of respect for their customs and laws, you proceed to break the laws that you don’t like or that inconvenience you because, after all, you are The Most Important Person In The Whole Wide World.
Do you want to know what German tourists think of Cairo or Mexico City? I can tell you: they think they’re a guest in someone else’s country, a place with different laws and customs, and should act accordingly.
You seem proud that you “still cross against the light” and seem to imagine this makes you some kind of rebel. You’d be a rebel if you were offering your defiance over something that actually mattered, and if there was some real risk of more than a paltry fine. As it is, you’re just showing your boorishness, like those clowns who park diagonally over two parking spaces. Thanks so much for making the rest of us unwelcome all around the world.
S. Oakley
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You know, instead of emailing or tweeting me about this guy and whether you think he’s got a point or not, feel free to email him. I did.
My reply to him: “Thanks for reading. So good to have new fans!”
You think he understood that might be sarcasm? Frankly, I’m not sure.
