Be Careful What You Sign Up For

When my son was still very young, imagining convivial meetings where persons of similar interests would gather to listen to and discuss their favorite music, he signed up for a certain “record club,” which shall not herein be further identified. What a rude disappointment when he discovered that the only activities of the club were to be his receiving and paying for the monthly selection! “The club isn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be,” he observed sadly.

Years later my husband reached the age when he was eligible to join a very large, well-known and powerful association promising many discounts to its members. The unwelcome consequence was a flood of junk mail stuffing the post office box day after day.

Not long ago someone suggested that I join a certain online organization because I would find the discussions interesting. Well, unhappily for me, this group does not conduct conversation on a website but via e-mail, and the majority of these e-mails seem to be conducted in “reply all” mode, with all previous correspondence on the subject still attached. Help! I’m drowning! I need to unsubscribe asap—if only I can figure out how!

There are times when un-joining a club is much more exciting than joining. The thing is, relinquishing membership usually takes a lot longer. Sigh!