Member-only story
Fake Congratulations
Have you gotten one today?
Today I was checking my email and one caught my attention:
- Congratulations, Darrin! You are eligible to apply today!
That is what I call a fake congratulations because they are not really celebrating anything at all. See, I didn’t win anything. There is no prize for me to receive. Nothing at all.
I think businesses over use the word congratulations. Maybe they think people will get excited and read the email, and then maybe even a person will apply for the product or service.
To me, I find it annoying. It’s like receiving a gift that someone grabbed quickly because you gave them a gift, and they had felt obligated to give something in return.
This happened to me once. Without naming names, someone gave me a fake gift because they had forgotten to purchase something for me.
What was the fake gift? It looked like a gift card but the instructions on the back indicated otherwise. It was actually an invitation to apply for a debit card, so in effect it was nothing at all. Frankly, I would have preferred nothing.
