On the Chain Gang

I thought chain letters went the way of the Pony Express and party lines. Unfortunately, I was wrong. A few weeks ago I received a letter in the mail from my (now former) friend Sheri. Of course, receiving anything other than a bill or credit card statement via snail mail should’ve been my first tip-off. “This is not a chain letter” the missive began. “It’s a fun sport sock exchange.”

Hmm. Who couldn’t use a few extra cute sports socks, especially in the summer, I thought. So breaking my own rule about participating in chain letters (because after all this was an “exchange” and not a chain, per se), I took the plunge. And being the obsessive person I am, I had copied and mailed out the letter to my six carefully selected victims, I mean, friends, the same night I received it. I even hand-delivered my pair of socks to Sheri when I saw her the next day. Done! All I had to do then was sit back and wait for all that footwear to start rolling in. By some complicated feat of math I could never begin to untangle, if I sent the letter to six other people and gave a pair of socks to the one person at the top of the list, I could expect something like 237.5 pairs to come my way.

My feet and I are still waiting.

Of course, soon after I sent the letter, two of my recipients called to tell me that they couldn’t “participate” because they couldn’t come up with six other people who hadn’t already been tapped for this particular scam, I mean, exchange. But still, not even one measly little pair of socks for all my trouble?

The whole sock saga triggered memories of participating in other “exchanges” throughout the years; recipes and children’s picture books come to mind. Through the same magic of math, I was supposed to receive libraries full of each; the yield was actually more like two and one, respectively.

But before I run out to Costco to replenish my sport sock wardrobe, I’m dying to know: has anyone ever participated in one of these things and actually had it work?

Comments

No chain gang experience, but have concerns about a chain of events. Some of the links in the Duke lacrosse case are being ignored.

Nifong crossed the line and should have been disbarred, but the media is painting the Duke lacrosse players as angels...ignoring the racially charged comments they made. Those comments led many to believe that sexual assault was a possibility.

These players come from privilege and evidently feel they should be able to exploit those who don't. They are now basking in the media attention, enjoying the depiction of them as fine upstanding young men. Clearly, they are not. They may not belong on the chain gang, but they also don't deserve to be portrayed as choir boys.

Hm. How off topic was that last comment. Way to be a downer!

I participated in a "Funky Sock Exchange" and only received a pair of socks from some chic in Oklahoma (I sent her a thank you note) that I can only assume is a friend of my Aunt's. I am kind of bummed out because I thought that it would be fun. Oh well. Before that I never participated in anything like that. I probably won't again. Although, I was made a victim of the Amish Friendship Bread by my sister-in-law. Um, the starter is SO not an Amish secret (equal parts of milk, sugar, and flour that ferment over time) and c'mon! No self-respecting Amish person is going to put a box of instant pudding in ANYTHING that they make (which is what the recipe calls for). Funny enough, my sister-in-law did not catch on to the fact that it's not an Amish thing at all (a box of INSTANT pudding!!!)... um, and she's an RN in an ER, so she's kind of responsible for other people's lives. Scary.

I have never participated in a chain email that actually worked, unless you count downloading a virus as a benefit....

What do you mean "Now former" friend Sheri? What happened?

I am guaranteed to break a chain letter whether it comes by email or snail mail, even though I will have 7 years bad luck, a child will die, or I will miss out on a fortune.
I think a successful chain mail is an urban legend.

do you in the suburbs know how to use the iPhone? I just got one and can't figure it out. HELPP!!!

http://tinyurl.com/2r7cu4
It's here already!!! The iPhone and at great prices!!

I always ignore chain letters (now they come via e-mail as well) but one caught my interest several years ago. It involved donating a previously-read book to the last person on the list in exchange for the receipt of umpteen number of books in the future. Needless to say, I am now out one book but never received any "new" books myself - even though I sent the chain letter to 6 other "victims". NEVER AGAIN!!!

Hi Hillary, Actually, Sheri was and continues to be a great friend of mine...I was just razzing her a bit in print for signing me up for my latest (and last ever) stint on the chain gang! And Anne, I'm with you...a successful chain letter is just another (in my case) suburban myth. As Avid says, the only thing you get from participating in one is a virus (or in my case, a blog entry topic)! Thanks everyone for reading and writing! Cheers, Laurie

My college daughter got a chain letter
for "cute underwear." I thought it was
stupid, but she swore she was going to
get "dozens and dozens" of the cutest
pairs, so I went along with it and bought her a cute pair of "Joe Boxers"
from K-mart to send. Weeks later I brought up the subject to my daughter
and asked how many cute pairs of panties
she had received in her mail box on campus. She said "none", of course!! I
just laughed because I got suckered into
a "dish towel" one years ago!! Live and
learn! Hee hee.