I was clearing out some files at work (yes, I did have better things to do, but we were alle ordered to) and came across the following little gem I wrote back in 2001. I'm tooting my own horn here, but I found it pretty darn funny

It's in reply to a snotty note from the publishers of a computer magazine ("CM"):

"Re: unpaid CM subscription

In a letter dated Feb. 26th, you refer to our "delinquent account", as you call it, as we haven't paid for our subscription yet. You also write: "When you ordered CM, we accepted your word that you would pay your bill." I might point out that when we ordered CM, we accepted your word that you would actually deliver the magazine. So far we have not received a single regular issue, and your threat of not sending any more issues is hardly alarming.

What we have received is the trial issue we ordered last November. After two follow-up emails. In January. I presume that the point of a trial issue is to let readers decide whether or not they want a continued subscription. Sending no less than two requests for payment before the trial issue has even arrived is a bit excessive. Your claiming that you have sent four unanswered requests for payment when we in fact have emailed you twice, is downright annoying.

In spite of all this, we do actually want a subscription for CM. As we wrote to you in December, we will pay the bill in full as soon as we receive our first regular, somewhat current issue."