Messin' with Suppliers

Normally, the freebies at conferences suck, but for some reason SFN was pretty good last year. Anyway, Thermo was handing out 4 gig flash drives, Sigma had rat-shaped t-shirts and Kent Scientific was handing out coffee mugs.

Which was good until my mug broke.

After a few months, I produced this e-mail in a fit of unproductiveness. As a sidenote, I intentionally dressed this message up for the occasion. I'm really not that attached to the mug, but for the sake of principle, I figured, eh, why not. Here you go:

*****
To Whom it May Concern,

I've had a Kent coffee mug that I have been using faithfully - it's my absolute favorite. The problem is this: it got chipped at work today and a hairline crack now stands between me and my daily Joe. I know this isn't a normal request, but here it is anyway: may I have a replacement? For most this seems trivial, but trust me, it is anything but. Aside from the fact that I am useless without my coffee, I've found it impossible to come across a mug of that weight, volume and quality. Not to mention the fact that the neat Kent logo on the side gives a sense of purpose to my otherwise unproductive routine - something the boss hasn't caught onto just yet.

I've included two pictures below...it's such a pity that such a small crack is such a huge problem.

If you could find a way for a replacement to come my way, I would be SO appreciative. Thank you very much!


Cheers,
Raman

Raman Kutty
MD/PhD Candidate
The Medical College of Wisconsin
rkutty@mcw.edu
****

The best part? Getting this in my inbox:

****
Dear Raman,
I am sorry about your mug
We can send you a new one but we do not have any in house at the moment
My associate is at a show in DC and has them with him
He will be back on Monday and I will be happy to send a new one out to you
****

Too easy. Maybe next I'll convince Thermo that a HPLC machine broke and I'd really like a new one. I'm sure they'll oblige. Small victories.