I'm incensed... maybe nothing, but this is bothering me... customer invoice includes tract

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

So I receive this invoice from this vendor and inside it I find a tract about the origin of "Silent Night (Stille Nacht)" the Christmas carol and then it goes on to the "are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior?" Well, for some reason, this pissed me off. If I were a customer and I were not a Christian, I would find this insulting. Does it mean if I accept Jesus I can get 30% off or something?

So I called their Greensboro office and asked to see if it was just a sales agent who did this or if it was company policy. Well, I was greeted by a "Merry Christmas!" (it's December 9 according to my calendar) and I knew then this was company policy. The attendant confirmed it was.

Now I am very pissed. I have nothing against people of any and all religious persuasions, but I have a problem when a company which supplies parts to all customers, regardless of religious orientation, decides this is the perfect time of year to indoctrinate customers who may or may not be receptive to the message.

I am thinking I want to write them a letter explaining I didn't think it was appropriate, but I am quite pissed and I don't want to sound like the usual agnostic freethinker whiner waging her annual War on Christmas (TM).

Suggestions? WWDuD? What Would DU Do?

[Lyric]

1. The Christmas greetings are fair game, but the proselytizing

is tacky and off-putting--especially if they don't make it clear that they have such "company policies" from the get-go.

[undeterred]

2. I think its really inappropriate in a business setting

and you'd think they'd be afraid of losing customers. There is a "Christian Business Directory" published in a lot of cities and I've picked it up just to see who is in it. Do they do better car repairs if they are born again Christians? No, but you might get proselytized.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

3. The company is Coble Trench Safety if anyone is interested

It's headquartered in Greensboro, NC, but has offices around the SE and into VA and MD. Edited to add: their mission statement indicates that they are ensuring quality through Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord, blah blah blah. I am thinking about sending back the tract along with a note explaining that it was not appreciated and while I understand they have a right to believe in whatever, I also have the right not to be proselytized against my will. Happy Hanukkah! Merry Kwanzaa! Happy Festivus! Sol Invictus! Diwali! El Eid... whatever.

[seemunkee]

4. Print this and send it back with your payment

http://www.geocities.com/neverclan/c/cthulhu.html

[rcrush]

7. ROFL

Thats is hillarius. You should leave those in a Christian book store.

[Capn Sunshine]

14. Oh yeah! Instead of the Christmas bulletin!

damn that is great.

[gmoney]

5. Perhaps it means they "forgive" your debt... I wouldn't pay them. ;)

"Blessed are the poor... I'm not paying you... you're now a little more blessed."

[Bertha Venation]

6. I'd write them a letter stating that this is the reason their services

are no longer required. They would get a thoroughly righteous charge out of that. Poor poor pitiful persecuted evangelicals. But their reaction is their problem. I gotta do what I gotta do for my own sanity.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. Oh, if I could...

I work for a large construction company. Our invoices are processed electronically, so it was unusual that I received this one.

[Bertha Venation]

9. Ah, I misunderstood.

Oops. :hi:

[MineralMan]

10. I used to own a software company, and one of its products

was a very flexible label design program. Small company...just me. So, one day, I got an order in the mail for the product. It was in a 6" x9" envelope, and the envelope was absolutely covered in religious, anti-abortion, and anti-democratic stickers. Some were really offensive.

It was obvious what this person wanted the program for...to print more of the same garbage. So, I wrote a letter, explaining why I wouldn't sell the program to the person who ordered it. I clipped the check sent in payment to the letter, and sent it to the person in a normal envelope.

I later got a phone call from this person, who proceeded to curse at me and call me all sorts of nasty things. It was worth it. I just hung up after a couple of minutes.

So, in your case, I'd make that my last order from that company, and tell them why in a nice, business-like letter sent by USPS.

[harmonicon]

11. whatever

if you don't like it, don't buy anything from them. Lots of places do things like that. In-N-Out burger does, but I still eat there, because they make a damn fine burger. You weren't charged for it, and you don't have to believe. Freedom of speech, baby.

[Arugula Latte]

13. When I see that annoying Jesus fish on a business's advertising

it's like a big-ass neon sign to me flashing: STAY THE FUCK AWAY!

[harmonicon]

15. exactly

Often I'll avoid those kind of places. However, there's a take-out place just down the street from me that's open late, so I eat there a lot. They have signs on the walls saying things like "this is a blessing from Allah", but it doesn't change my enjoyment of my pizza. I suppose that some people may not going there because they don't like those signs.... I don't know.

[Zavulon]

12. Have you ever purchased a Buck knife?

You get lots of religious babble in the owner's manual, too. The owners of the company are bible thumpers of major-league caliber.

It hasn't scared me off the product, but it does piss me off.

[astral]

17. Ever purchase a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Soap?

If ya haven't seen it, well, I'm warning you -- if you're easily offended, This is the Package for You! All One! One All! And all kinds of wordy paragraphs about spiritual truths that no matter how many times you read them you still won't know what they mean!

Use of this soap is the key to your eternal salvation. You will understand all Dr. Bronner had to say by osmosis.

Peppermint works the best.

Don't eat soap!

[astral]

16. What they celebrate is Christmas.

.. . . . Just trying to think like they think. If Christmas is about Jesus, then communicating with other people through the mail is not about sending Happy Holidays cards, but to spread the word about Jesus.

It seems kinda weird to me too that they would do this; it's pretty hard-core. But I don't think being insulted by every mention of religion through the "Holiday Season" (the generic version, of course!) makes any more sense than being upset that everything about this shopping season is about -- shopping. Spending. Being joyful about the "happy holidays' that don't mean anything religious to anybody except in the confines of a church or the sanctity of your own home.

Here's what I would do, if I was so MOVED by the event as you are. I would write back, with or without my order, and tell them, no, I am not ready to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Then I would ask them if they are willing to accept Yahweh as their personal Lord and Savior. Or Lucifer. Or the Jolly Green Giant. And let them know they are doomed if they don't.

People of certain various religious persuasions are indoctrinated into the the idea that they Must Go Forth and Save Souls(!) and maybe especially during this time of the year.

People can express their religious persuasion, they can express who they thought should have been elected, they can profess that eating lutefisk for breakfast is the way to eternal salvation, why is it so insulting that people want to express things that other people disagree with?

What does Noel mean? Is it a religious expression? Just an honest unrelated question . . . . from contemplating my dishtowel whichh says, "Noel" -- "Merry, Merry" -- "Season's Greetings" -- "Joy to the World" -- "Joy . . . Peace" -- and, just "Greetings"

Is my dishtowel offensive? Should it offend me that it carries a religious message? Or should it offend me that it doesn't? It doesn't DARE use the term "Merry Christmas," or even, "Christmas."

I have here a very politically-correct dish towel. And now that I gaze upon it, I find it to be horribly offensive to my non-religious but meaningful sentimental seasonal sensitivities.

I have what you'd call a bad case of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

And I sound like a dingbat tonite and I don't care. I was 'bout falling asleep in my chair a half hour ago and should really just go to bed early tonite.

[mwooldri]

18. Answer: Shop around, see if alternative is available elsewhere.

Then weigh the options. If you can get what you need from a different place that meets your specifications and either costs the same or less, then switch providers. However if this company is still the best deal then you might just have to hold your nose and still go with them. Things are tight nowadays - we're not too bad YET but things just don't look good period.

FWIW I had my vehicle repaired by a so-called "Christian Repair Shop" (no names mentioned here) but they ran over budget and over time. They quoted a nice low price but billed insurance a much higher one when they were finished. Plus the wiring has gone wrong now; the central locking won't work any more. Won't take my car there again. The next time I took it to the dealer instead... at least they charged what they quoted but ripped me off on the replacement battery, and the repair was better quality than that done by the Christian Repair Shop.

I need some more car work done, so I'm going to shop around again, and try neither a faith-based business (because I guess you going to have to have some faith things are being done right) nor a dealership and see how I fare there. It's OK to have faith in business, it's OK to "operate" according to those principles, but to make a song and dance about it? Hmmm...

Mark.