jethrien: (Default)
"Dear Friend" is not an appropriate way to begin a cover letter.

Creepy...

Date: 2008-04-16 05:10 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] edgehopper.livejournal.com
Maybe the job applicant was this guy?

Date: 2008-04-16 08:24 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] jethrien.livejournal.com
Gah! No!

Date: 2008-04-16 05:39 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] lyriendel.livejournal.com
I had a job seeker start an email with "Dear Mr. Hsiao," with an attached cover letter still addressed "Dear Mr. Nehme," whoever that is, and an attached resume that didn't even mention he was an MIT student in the 'Education' part, much less any relevant classes or skills, and that told me all about how he was 'one of top 3 math students' in 9th grade and '1 of top 6 English students' in 10th grade. Oh, and he loves to play the saxophone and "Works nonprofit as a Eucharistic Minister and Usher every Sunday mass at St. Joseph's Church Long Beach, CA." From MIT. Yeaaah. That's both way more and also way less information than I wanted to know. :)

Date: 2008-04-16 05:41 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] ivy03.livejournal.com
Maybe they're Amish?

Date: 2008-04-16 08:25 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] jethrien.livejournal.com
No, better - really flaky sounding actor.

Date: 2008-04-16 08:24 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] dushai.livejournal.com
Perhaps he thought you were a Quaker. (But not the Quaker, who is a dork.)

Date: 2008-04-17 11:36 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] wavilyem.livejournal.com
Dear Friend,

I agree!

Date: 2008-04-17 04:07 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com
Which subculture was it where it was appropriate to call casual people "friend?"

Date: 2008-04-17 04:25 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] jethrien.livejournal.com
Haven't a clue. I feel like I've heard it used in kind of a creepy way in some sci fi/fantasy books.

Date: 2008-04-17 04:55 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] nanonicole.livejournal.com
Hmmm... Soviet communists called each other "comrade." Close enough?

Date: 2008-04-17 04:57 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com
That only adds to the creepy factor :)

I wonder, though. I've experimented with different endings to letters, from time to time. The word friend has made its appearance in a few of them, though not comrade.

Date: 2008-04-17 05:21 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] nanonicole.livejournal.com
I would love to address someone as "Comrade." Perhaps I'll try it out... :-)

Date: 2008-04-17 05:55 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] jethrien.livejournal.com
An ending to a letter is a little less weird, somehow. I think because a letter ending ("Your friend") applies to the writer, whereas the opening ("Dear Friend") applies to the reader. It's less presumptuous for you to declare that you are my friend than for you to declare that I am your friend.

But hopefully, you were doing this in a letter to someone you actually know. If you're actually friends, it's not creepy at all. But if you address a business letter to someone who you know nothing about, including title or even gender, declaring that they're your friend...creepy.

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