When emails go bad

About once a week, an email reply comes back to me, marked:

The e-mail account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to. Check the e-mail address, or contact the recipient directly to find out the correct address.

How frustrating!

Now the person who emailed us thinks we gave him or her the brush off!

That we didn’t care enough to take the time to send a reply.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(I really do hear that voice in my head in such situations. I know, I know. I’m teetering on the edge.)

One time (yes, I remember the particulars; it bothers me that much) it was someone asking about our accessibility. Another time, a question about food allergies. A third about our kennels. All valid questions. I had the answers and sent them out.

Anyone else hear Elvis crooning?

Return to sender … address unknown

Anyway, it just happened again. A sincere email from a teen from Michigan. His name is Jeremy and he’s visiting early next week. An obviously intelligent fellow — rather intense, actually. (I went into Mommy-mode and reminded him to have *fun* during his visit.)

Jeremy … if you’re out there … your email address isn’t working. Sorry! I saved the reply and will send it again if you email me back with a working address.

Okay, now I have to get Elvis out of my head …