# Look, cow-orker, I'd love to help the child IF SHE EXISTED!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 28, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016 "2004-12-28T22:42:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/1 "2004-12-28T22:42:41Z")
I got [this glurge](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/children/arling.htm) today at work. In fact, everybody in the hospital w/email got it. A cow-orker asked me about it and I said, no I’m not going to forward it to anyone. I was then accused of being a heartless person. I sent her the link to the Snopes article. She said, well, it COULD be real. I tried to explain the extreme difficulty in tracking email. She replied with a “Well, you don’t know everything about computers.” I said, “True, but I do know this is BS.” She tsk-tsked and walked away. I sent the Snopes link back to the sender, but never got a reply. The next glurge email I get will be reported to the sender’s supervisor. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/2 "2004-12-28T22:55:19Z")
Gotta nip that in the bud. I strongly encourage all the folks working at my company to check Snopes before forwarding stuff like this. And if they fail to check, they get an e-mail with a link to Snopes - forwarded to the entire distribution list so that everyone can see they got snookered. Unfortunately, there’s little you can do when you present someone with something that’s well researched and accurate and they still choose to believe the BS. If it gets too annoying, maybe you can dig out the company’s official e-mail policy. Does anything in the glurge e-mail (or your co-worker’s forwarding) violate policy? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/3 "2004-12-28T22:56:18Z")
[Glurge at work? Say it ain’t so!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293244) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/4 "2004-12-28T23:15:38Z")
I would have used the ‘reply to all’ feature if your coworker included all the email addresses and explained it’s a fraud w/ the link. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/5 "2004-12-28T23:18:21Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > [Glurge at work? Say it ain’t so!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293244) I saw that, but didn’t want to hijack your thread. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/6 "2004-12-28T23:21:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > “Well, you don’t know everything about computers.” “True. But at least I know _some_thing about computers, whereas you apparently don’t know _anything_ about computers, or you wouldn’t be wasting my time like this.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/7 "2004-12-28T23:29:09Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I got [this glurge](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/children/arling.htm) today at work. In fact, everybody in the hospital w/email got it. A cow-orker asked me about it and I said, no I’m not going to forward it to anyone. I was then accused of being a heartless person. I sent her the link to the Snopes article. She said, well, it COULD be real. I had a coworker say the exact same thing in regards to some variant of the [Thousand Dollar Bill](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/billgate.asp). I didn’t bother trying to explain how such things are impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/8 "2004-12-29T12:55:00Z")
Just tell her that you are saving your energy and time to commit yourself to your Pull-Tab collection for some person. Oh, and giving money to the little kids hawking candy bars is usually a scam as well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/9 "2004-12-29T13:18:00Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I got [this glurge](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/children/arling.htm) today at work. In fact, everybody in the hospital w/email got it. A cow-orker asked me about it and I said, no I’m not going to forward it to anyone. I was then accused of being a heartless person. I sent her the link to the Snopes article. She said, well, it COULD be real. I tried to explain the extreme difficulty in tracking email. She replied with a “Well, you don’t know everything about computers.” > > I said, “True, but I do know this is BS.” > > She tsk-tsked and walked away. > > I sent the Snopes link back to the sender, but never got a reply. > > The next glurge email I get will be reported to the sender’s supervisor. This really fucking gets on my tits. After, what, ten years of mass Internet use with every other email being deemed a hoax, you’d think people would, I dunno, exercise some common sense and be a bit more suspicious and discerning of forwarded glurge, but _no._ Stuff like this makes me think we’re fighting a hopeless war against ignorance. People don’t want the fucking truth. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/10 "2004-12-29T13:27:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > People don’t want the fucking truth. [Jack Nicholson]You can’t handle the truth![/Jack Nicholson] ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/11 "2004-12-29T13:38:59Z")
This is why I love our company email policy that explicitly states that the company email is for company related business only. Any other use goes through the whole verbal/written warning/ ane/or may result in loss of email/internet access/ termination disciplinary action business. Very, very few glurgy/urban legend emails get sent and those that do send one never do it again. Being the policy/procedure/rules/regs sob has its perks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/12 "2004-12-29T14:04:28Z")
Passing on glurge is one thing, but when people start up with “It COULD be true” when faced with the facts then shame and humiliation is the only proper response. Tell her that instead of sending on fake emails in the hopes that someone else will actually send money she should take charge of the office collection for the survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami. And that she should contribute, at a minimum, 32 cents for each email she forwarded trying to make herself feel like a do-gooder for free. When she takes a pass just mutter “Yeah. I thought so.” ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/13 "2004-12-29T14:37:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “True. But at least I know _some_thing about computers, whereas you apparently don’t know _anything_ about computers, or you wouldn’t be wasting my time like this.” This is what I would have liked to have said to the woman in my anthropology class who was convinced that we could (without the benefit of any drivers, codecs, or hardware) reformat a CD-ROM drive on a 1995 compaq to play DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/14 "2004-12-29T15:15:23Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > Passing on glurge is one thing, but when people start up with “It COULD be true” when faced with the facts then shame and humiliation is the only proper response. > > Tell her that instead of sending on fake emails in the hopes that someone else will actually send money she should take charge of the office collection for the survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami. And that she should contribute, at a minimum, 32 cents for each email she forwarded trying to make herself feel like a do-gooder for free. When she takes a pass just mutter “Yeah. I thought so.” 32 cents? random number? ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/15 "2004-12-29T15:20:48Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I would have used the ‘reply to all’ feature if your coworker included all the email addresses and explained it’s a fraud w/ the link. I’ve done that at work. It was the glurge that described the guy at his wedding who had taped pictures of his bride screwing the best man. The originator (my cow-orker) was a little put-out for a couple of days, but we’re back to normal now. And she stopped sending me these things, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/16 "2004-12-29T15:40:01Z")
> [@Mynn](#): > > 32 cents? random number? Should be 37 cents. First class postage rates have gone up. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/17 "2004-12-29T15:57:22Z")
::shrug:: I took it from the glurge. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/18 "2004-12-29T16:03:37Z")
Who the hell writes this shit in the first place? And what’s the purpose? Is it just to see if people will fall for it? Or was it a made up story in some of those “Make your own urban legend” that then gets spread as one? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/19 "2004-12-29T16:38:23Z")
Figures. One of my cow-orkers forwarded “Rachel” just this morning. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016/20 "2004-12-29T16:49:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > [Jack Nicholson]You can’t handle the truth![/Jack Nicholson] [Sideshow Bob]No truth-handler, you! I deny your truth-handling abilities![/Sideshow Bob] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-cow-orker-id-love-to-help-the-child-if-she-existed/282016.md?page=2)