Who's Who is a Crock of _______
I never receive mail at the office because I don't list my business address in my contacts. The fact that I actually got something addressed to me makes the letter suspect to begin with. It has fancy script letters and indicates that it has been mailed from Manchester's Who's Who Registry...hmm, this should be interesting...let's read it:
Dear Ms. Chrissy [ I use my full first name on all official documents.."Chrissy" is reserved for friends, etc. Manchester Who's Who is not my friend]
"It is my pleasure to inform you that you are being considered for inclusion into the 2005/2006 Manchester Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women "Honors Edition" of the registry."
["Executive & Professional?" These people clearly have no idea what I do for a living. I like how they put "Honors Edition" in quotations. Is that supposed to make me feel more special?]
"The 2005/2006 edition of the registry will include biographies of our country's most accomplished women. Recognition of this kind is an honor shared by thousands of executive and professional women throughout America each year. Inclusion is considered by many as the single highest mark of achievement."
[This is certainly boosting my ego, but let's be honest - I've been in the full time working world for a little over 6 months...I haven't accomplished anything worth printing unless you consider the record speed with which I can undo a paper jam a serious accomplishment. Also, call me crazy but if you consider this your "highest mark of achievement" than you are a fool, 'cause this is a scheme of Ms. Cleo proportions!]
OK - that's about it. There's an insert which asks for general information about my company and job, etc. I wouldn't exactly call that a biography. I'm sure the "pay to be a member" and "pay for a copy of the publication" comes later. Funny enough, there's a little tag at the bottom that states that "Manchester is not affiliated with any of the other Who's Who organizations." I guess i'll leave this to the "thousands of professional and executives" morons out there that buy into this crap!
posted by Chrissy at
11:29 AM
10 Comments:
I got one of these letters myself. "Manchester's Who's Who Among Professional Women in Writing and Publishing" "Honor's Edition". I won an international lyric contest, was runner-up, and honorable mention in others. I haven't been published other than some poetry workshops. So it;s a crock you say.. interesting..
I got one of these letters myself. "Manchester's Who's Who Among Professional Women in Writing and Publishing" "Honor's Edition". I won an international lyric contest, was runner-up, and honorable mention in others. I haven't been published other than some poetry workshops. So it;s a crock you say.. interesting..
I too received a letter. It is for the 2006/ 2007 edition.
I was obviously skeptical because I have never done anything in business that would be considered noteworthy by anyone else (I simply do my job)and I have never been a writter nor won anything like the other "anonymous" women that have posted a comment on DCent. I was wondering though, has anyone actually sent anything back to this "organization" to find out what happens after this letter?
I got their mailer yesterday, attn my 15 yr defunct biz name. As contrived as it reads, these "networking societies" have been around for ages. This one's no different, but for their blatancy. Notable achievements find more appropriate recordation. (Hef's registry card receipt, assuredly, made MWW staff swallow their gum.)
This sad paragraph defines MWW's modus operandi: http://manchesterwhoswho.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=registry.
Their own confession, in 2 short sentences, comprises the entirely selfish objective for their use/abuse of the medium of WW as vehicle: http://manchesterwhoswho.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.
Don't expect my subsidy.
Got my letter today and decided to go on line and see what the hell... had Lp in the address, graduated in Dec. as RN from some years as LPN, thought the whole thing was suspicious. I am 51, single mom, wondering who is giving out my info?
I got this letter a few weeks ago, and i sent in the little return request. Shortly after, I received a phone call from someone who commenced to asking me some very philisophical questions about my career and personal beleifs. I answered honestly and the questioner announced my honorable induction with a warm congrats to boot. I felt flattered at that point, and happy that I would get all these little "perks" with the honors. It sounded WONDERFUL and I couldn't wait to tell someone, when the dreaded, infamous...all we need now is your money line was said! DAMMIT! Oh well, I had to let the person know that I would have to call back when my husband returned home--(with the checkbook and all the credit cards) LOL...yeah right. Sorry I just don't have 600 dollars to throw down for a "membership"
I sent the card back and got the same call where they asked me minimal questions about my career history and then congratulated me and offered me a choice of the Gold membership or Platinum membership...for a mere $489 or $689 respectively, PLUS $189 for the book (mandatory with both!). My thoughts...if this is truly an "honor or award" as they state, then they should give you the certificate and include you in the book for the honor/award and give you the option of purchasing the book for their business side of the house. Their sales pitch for the membership and lack of recognition without the payment only confirms that this is neither an honor nor and award, it is a purchase. I don't need to purchase recognition, I'll earn mine thanks.
I am a 66 year old widow/small business person. Several family members have been in Who'sWho, and so I answered the invite,never realizing it would cost me dearly. Phony plane tickets to Europe (HA!) $100 gift certificates mandating I spend atleast $300, what kind of thievery is this? LittleRock, AR
Well, I'm glad I read your posts as I was about to send in my info via regular mail on the post card provided with the letter. I do in fact own a business, so I thought this was legit. Guess not, so now I will shred this "crap".
Thanks for the info everyone. Much appreciated.
I'm a teacher and got one of these letters. At first I felt honored until I learned more about what it was. I did receive a call from them asking questions then trying to get me to buy the book. I said there is no way I am going to pay to list my name in some random book that will never even benefit me! How do these people get away with this?? I wonder how much money they make from people who are clearly uninformed.
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