You may receive this happy announcement:
Hey! People like me if I pay them!
I am pleased to announce that Whiteboard Partners LLC has been selected for the 2009 Best of Chino Hills Award in the Industrial & Labor Consulting Services category by the US Commerce Association.
After the initial wave of ‘Yeah, I’m all that’, you start asking yourself, who is bestowing this honor.
A quick trip to the Better Business Bureau reveals this:
Recent emails notifying businesses that they have won prestigious awards from a national association appear to be part of a widespread scheme designed to get companies to pay for “vanity” awards and plaques.
A Google search produces a much more entertaining result.
This is edited for salty language, you can read the original post here:
So I get this e-mail today. “You have been awarded the Best of Chicago 2009 Award in the Restaurants category by the US Commerce Association.”
…Who are these people??? Cucina Bella was a defunct Chicago Italian Eatery that closed it’s doors over 4 years ago… Then I bought the rights to the name and opened a kitchenware store on MAUI with the same name… …now I get an award for having a restaurant that is one of the best in Chicago! Who f**king voted for this? Dead People??
So they put this press release on their website:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cucina Bella Receives 2009 Best of Chicago Award
WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Cucina Bella has been selected for the 2009 Best of Chicago Award in the Restaurants category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
…. OK I get it… They want me to buy their $189.00 f**king plak [sic] to hang on my wall cause all their data and interviews said that I must own a restaurant in Chicago!
These people at the US Commerce Association need to be castrated with a rusty knife from my defunct kitchenware store.
Dispatches From The Front 