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patentdragonStick with me here - even when it gets personal...
I'm unemployed (mostly). As a result, the government is very keen to shoe-horn me into this scheme and that scheme to get me off benefits I actually don't get. The last time I was on one of these extended schemes, I encountered an individual who seemed like an okay guy - a fellow rock fan, a computer enthusiast - and I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he revealed he was an alcoholic. He was open about his failings, and knew he had a problem, but I gave him the respect I hope I display to every other human being I meet.
Bad idea.
He turned out to be a nasty, self-centred piece of shit, the epitome of alcohol-fuelled arrogance. For no reason whatsoever, he ripped into me in an e-mail (a warning - never, ever give an alcoholic your e-mail address, or put your e-mail address where they can find it), and the next time I saw him, I demanded an apology. This was offered, and accepted, with the all-too convenient excuse that "it was the booze talking".
A couple of weeks later, this same individual was caught abusing the college computer facilities, spamming to bursting the inbox of a mystery individual he had some grievance with. Concerned he was going to get booted off the course, he asked for me to come along to his disciplinary hearing as a supporting witness - and I did what I felt was the right thing.
If I hadn't been there, there's every possibility his ass would have been grass, and there's a good chance I wouldn't have to be writing this...
He got a warning, and carried on with the course. Things seemed to go tolerably from there on, and even when the course was finished, we stayed in contact. I was invited to go with him and his girlfriend and see Status Quo at a local venue shortly before that Christmas, and a very good show it was - right up until shortly thereafter, when I received another nasty e-mail, venting particularly about how I'd only managed to pay for my ticket at the last possible moment - even though he knew where I lived, and could have come and got his precious money at any time over the several months prior to the concert.
Again, the booze was talking - but this time, I'd had enough. I reported him to his ISP for abuse, and blocked his e-mail address.
I thought that was the last of it. How wrong I was.
Five months later, he happened to come across my personal web-site - patentdragon.co.uk - and felt he had found sufficient ammunition for a hate campaign against me - and my family. The e-mail address associated with the site was bombarded with threats, and news about how I was going to be slagged off on a number of message boards he frequented, and how he was even going to go to the police, just because my home was close to a school.
I take that kind of crap from no-one.
I took the e-mails to the police, complete with headers. I explained the whole story, which I have just detailed, to the officers there - right down to the content of my web-site.
I did not have this individual's address, so nothing more was forthcoming concerning my complaint. I have not heard from this sorry excuse of a man since, nor have we crossed paths in any way.
I very much hope it is going to stay that way...
...but another of these courses for the unemployed is coming up, and if I believed in any god, I would be praying that this individual hasn't been signed up as well. There's every possibility he's drunken himself to death since the "hate-campaign", or maybe he's sought redemption with some religion or other, but as far as I'm concerned, the offence he committed against me and my family does not have a statute of limitations.
Not as long as I breathe.
He better not be there. For his own sake. I hope I have the strength just to turn around and walk out - and woe betide the government if they exercise some kind of punitive sanctions against me because of it.
Here ends the lesson. Go in peace. Consider this matter vented, and filed away under "Addressed In Full" - unless the nightmare scenario becomes fact...
I'm unemployed (mostly). As a result, the government is very keen to shoe-horn me into this scheme and that scheme to get me off benefits I actually don't get. The last time I was on one of these extended schemes, I encountered an individual who seemed like an okay guy - a fellow rock fan, a computer enthusiast - and I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he revealed he was an alcoholic. He was open about his failings, and knew he had a problem, but I gave him the respect I hope I display to every other human being I meet.
Bad idea.
He turned out to be a nasty, self-centred piece of shit, the epitome of alcohol-fuelled arrogance. For no reason whatsoever, he ripped into me in an e-mail (a warning - never, ever give an alcoholic your e-mail address, or put your e-mail address where they can find it), and the next time I saw him, I demanded an apology. This was offered, and accepted, with the all-too convenient excuse that "it was the booze talking".
A couple of weeks later, this same individual was caught abusing the college computer facilities, spamming to bursting the inbox of a mystery individual he had some grievance with. Concerned he was going to get booted off the course, he asked for me to come along to his disciplinary hearing as a supporting witness - and I did what I felt was the right thing.
If I hadn't been there, there's every possibility his ass would have been grass, and there's a good chance I wouldn't have to be writing this...
He got a warning, and carried on with the course. Things seemed to go tolerably from there on, and even when the course was finished, we stayed in contact. I was invited to go with him and his girlfriend and see Status Quo at a local venue shortly before that Christmas, and a very good show it was - right up until shortly thereafter, when I received another nasty e-mail, venting particularly about how I'd only managed to pay for my ticket at the last possible moment - even though he knew where I lived, and could have come and got his precious money at any time over the several months prior to the concert.
Again, the booze was talking - but this time, I'd had enough. I reported him to his ISP for abuse, and blocked his e-mail address.
I thought that was the last of it. How wrong I was.
Five months later, he happened to come across my personal web-site - patentdragon.co.uk - and felt he had found sufficient ammunition for a hate campaign against me - and my family. The e-mail address associated with the site was bombarded with threats, and news about how I was going to be slagged off on a number of message boards he frequented, and how he was even going to go to the police, just because my home was close to a school.
I take that kind of crap from no-one.
I took the e-mails to the police, complete with headers. I explained the whole story, which I have just detailed, to the officers there - right down to the content of my web-site.
I did not have this individual's address, so nothing more was forthcoming concerning my complaint. I have not heard from this sorry excuse of a man since, nor have we crossed paths in any way.
I very much hope it is going to stay that way...
...but another of these courses for the unemployed is coming up, and if I believed in any god, I would be praying that this individual hasn't been signed up as well. There's every possibility he's drunken himself to death since the "hate-campaign", or maybe he's sought redemption with some religion or other, but as far as I'm concerned, the offence he committed against me and my family does not have a statute of limitations.
Not as long as I breathe.
He better not be there. For his own sake. I hope I have the strength just to turn around and walk out - and woe betide the government if they exercise some kind of punitive sanctions against me because of it.
Here ends the lesson. Go in peace. Consider this matter vented, and filed away under "Addressed In Full" - unless the nightmare scenario becomes fact...
no subject
Date: 14 May 2006 11:36 (UTC)