Thousands upon thousands of spam emails land in the in-boxes of Dunedin workers every day of the week. But who thinks of the poor souls whose lonely job it is to send them? David Loughrey does. Today, with a little help from Google Maps, he imagines the empty lives of the emailers who spammed him recently.
Maria Ashford sat down at her work space, logged on to her computer and began her work.
It had been a difficult morning; the day had begun with an argument with her boyfriend.
Over what? - She could no longer remember.
Her whole existence seemed bland and void of meaning; her very vitality drowning in a sea of repetition and petty squabbles.
Maria was well past the first flush of youth, and looked tired and worn - she knew that, and the knowledge weighed heavily upon her.
And Maria was sick - sick to death - of her job as a spam emailer.
She was amusingly described on her FanBox company business card as a member of the 'Customer Protection Team'.
Somehow, that lofty title brought the pointlessness of her existence more keenly into focus.
She opened her email, carefully typing david.loughrey@alliedpress.co.nz in the address line.
She began her first email of the day:
Dear David, she wrote
I noticed that your FanBox account is not protected, despite your sizable earnings of $1,314.66.
I strongly recommend that you protect your funds by validating your account immediately.
If you need assistance, chat with a community expert.
-Maria Ashford, Customer Protection Team
FanBox - Uplifting humanity by enabling opportunity.
FanBox - West G Street, San Diego, USA.
Maria hit 'send', then took the stairs down to the street level on West G St, walked to a nearby cafe, and sat staring into the San Diego street.
''Is this what I have become?'' she asked nobody in particular.
''A spam emailer, approaching bleak middle age, the years bringing about so surely the dissolution of the parts which make me; my melancholy staining every experience; shame, anxiety and continual dissatisfaction eroding my will and laying waste my dream of contentment; that which has become no more substantial than a wisp of cloud taken by the breeze?''
The barista moved from behind the counter, walked purposefully to where Maria sat, and asked her to keep her voice down.
Meanwhile, in London, Andy Gravish sat in the offices of the Universal Loan Firm, and pondered the reality of his position.
He knew English was not his strength.
He struggled - and he knew it - with the placement of both definite and indefinite articles.
Should there be a `the' or an `a' before Universal Loan Firm, or neither?
And his typing was sloppy. He always forgot to put a space, then a capital letter, after a full stop.
He had at one time believed strongly in a wise and benevolent God and the endless love of Christ, but his job as a spam emailer had robbed him, it seemed, even of the certainty of his faith.
Now the Sunday sacraments rang empty, and rather than the glory of God, he noticed just the worn, shabby cuffs of the vicar, the empty pews around him, and the bitter, resigned suffering of the tiny, elderly congregation that still turned up.
He sighed, and began the first email of the day, carefully typing david.loughrey@alliedpress.co.nz in the address line.
Hello Sir/Madam, he wrote.
We are Universal Loan Firm a certificatied and a registered loan lender,we give loan with a low interest rate of 2%, both corperate bodies and individual loan.we give out business loan, mortgage loan etc. contact us today if you are interested please fill out the form below and please only serious minded people are welcome.
Fill out the loan application form below to to get started.
Thank you and God Bless,Best regards:Mr.
Andy Gravish: Managing Director
Venue: Canary Wharf, Cabot Place East, London
United Kingdom.
Andy sent the email, then immediately cursed himself - he had forgotten to use spell-check.
And that title he used - Managing Director - what a callous joke that seemed, a cruel mockery perpetrated by those who employed him.
Crushed, and tearfully exasperated by his own stupidity, incompetence and impotence, Andy walked out of his building, into Cabot Pl, then headed for the Thames, crossing Westferry Rd to the river bank.
He looked down into the brown water, and wept.
Taryn Hudson walked briskly up Victoria St, Auckland.
Approaching the building that was the home of Gina Chemical Laboratories' Auckland office, she was keen to be early for her new job.
The night before, she had placed her university marketing degree certificate on her bedside table - it had finally helped her gain employment.
Her tiny apartment had, until she was notified of her successful job application, seemed like a prison, and the long, lonely days she spent in it a ceaseless persecution.
Her only friend from school had become engaged, and had drifted further and further from her life.
She had no family with whom she was close.
But a new job was a new start.
There would be work friends, work events, parties - the world would open up and embrace her.
Taryn entered the building, was shown to her work space, and handed a script she was to copy into the body of an email, and a list of email addresses.
It read:
Dear valued Client,
please kindly find enclosed attachment of the proof of T.T wire transfer payment made to you for verification purpose. this is a refund of the payment you have made to us on January 1st, 2014, transaction #4555633. and we will appreciate your prompt response regarding this.
Sincerely,Taryn Hudson.
Gina Chemical Laboratories.
Victoria Street West,
Auckland
Taryn clicked on `write email', and began with the first address, carefully typing david.loughrey@alliedpress.co.nz in the address line ...
