James Veitch: The agony of trying to unsubscribe
ג'יימס ויץ': הסבל מאחורי "הסר מרשימה"
For James Veitch, a British writer and comedian with a mischievous side, spam emails proved the perfect opening to have some fun, playing the scammers at their own game. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
and she told me this story
והיא סיפרה לי את הסיפור הזה,
forgotten about
she would pull the car over,
היא היתה מחנה את הרכב,
gotten out of the car,
to let me out of the car,
I used to play with myself
שהייתי משחק עם עצמי
I was bored or frustrated.
כשהייתי משועמם או מתוסכל.
of information overload. Right?
בעידן של עודף מידע, נכון?
too many marketing emails.
יותר מדי מיילים שיווקיים.
from a supermarket firm,
and it went like this, it said:
at King's Cross opens!!!"
בקינגס קרוס!!!"
signing up to that,
that they appear to think
about a shop opening.
to the bottom of the email,
I got another one that said,
קיבלתי עוד אחד שאמר:
I haven't clicked hard enough.
you guessed it,
נכון, ניחשתם,
at King's Cross opens!!!"
בקינגס קרוס!!!"
matter in this world
בעולם הזה
about supermarket chains
a strongly worded email,
עמדתי לכתוב להם מייל זועם,
a guy called Dan said,
בחור בשם דן אמר:
to help me with your query."
לעזור לי עם השאלה שלך."
"מה התכנית, דן?
excited about the opening!"
"אני פשוט ממש נרגש מהפתיחה!"
the bouncy castle or shall I?"
"אני חושב שלא הבנת".
but there is no celebration planned."
אבל לא מתוכננת חגיגה".
until,' 'Two weeks until' emails?
'רק עוד שלושה שבועות', 'רק עוד שבועיים'?
"אל דאגה.
castle was non-refundable."
את המקדמה על המתנפחים".
a few hundred quid, Dan."
נאבד כמה מאות לירות, דן".
for anything you have ordered."
על שום דבר שהזמנת".
are in this together."
to make sure people take their shoes off?"
שאנשים חולצים את הנעליים?"
with Dan deteriorated somewhat,
היחסים של עם דן החלו להדרדר מעט,
your Case Number is ..."
מספרך הוא ..."
this is ... -- and I, I ....
זה... -- ואני ...
All I'm doing is collecting case numbers.
כל מה שאני עושה זה לאסוף מספרי מקרה.
why there was no bouncy castle."
למה אין מתנפחים".
the end of the story,
that anything -- everything --
as getting out of a car,
אם מוצאים את המשחק הנכון.
your Case Number is #0000001.]
מספר המקרה שלך הוא #0000001.]
it was quite labor-intensive,
זה דרש ממני הרבה עבודה,
auto-replier program.
למענה אוטומטי למייל.
it receives an email from SafeMart,
שהיא מקבלת מייל משופרמרקט,
your Case Number is ..."
מספרכם הוא..."
to up the case number every time.
שמעלה את המספר בכל פעם.
a number of emails going back and forth.
הלוך ושוב.
sense of satisfaction to know
are just going to be pinging one another
לצלצל אחת לשניה
I don't think that's bad.
by the bureaucracy
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James Veitch - Comedian and writerFor James Veitch, a British writer and comedian with a mischievous side, spam emails proved the perfect opening to have some fun, playing the scammers at their own game.
Why you should listen
Packed full of Nigerian princes, can't miss investment opportunities and eligible Russian brides, James Veitch's correspondence with email spammers leads to surprising, bizarre and usually hilarious results. Out of this experiment came his first book, Dot Con. In 2014, his first solo comedy show The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe to wide acclaim. His second show, Genius Bar, focussed on his time working for Apple, chronicles his attempts to fix his relationship using the same troubleshooting techniques he’d been using to fix iMacs, iPhones and iPods. He is currently writing his third show and preparing to tour the UK.
He lives in London with his full body pillow.
James Veitch | Speaker | TED.com