Discussion: Ministerial Correspondence

We have developed a form letter used to respond to the array of inventions people send in. "This suggestion violates the ...pick the appropriate law of physics or engineering.. from the drop down box".

In the Min Corro wish list this end was a classic from a nutter in Swan Hill region who wrote demanding a change in evaporation basin plans because the particular salt lake in question contained radioactive salts and he himself had received radiation burns whilst out on said lake. Initial draft response was along the lines of...

The Minister notes that you received radiation burns during your recent visit to lake XXX. He is deeply concerned at the implications for your long-term health and suggests that next visit you use a reputable brand of UV cream.

Of course, said draft went no further than the next desk upwards, but was well travelled horizontally across other desks.

This was many years ago now and all those involved have since retired. But the memory live son.

My first and last foray into that black art was a not terribly sympathetic reply to a student about their heavy load of loans when I was working for our minister of post secondary education. I was a student myself at the time ready to graduate with a degree in anthropology and a substantial debt of my own. The primary difference between correspondents was that I and my degree were in all likelihood headed to the local fast food resto and she was headed off to be a GP making 300k a year. I guess I was too direct.