The story of the rude blogger (for the girls who were curious)

Okay so here's the story about the rude blogger as requested by three lovely ladies over at Giggles and Makeup, Titles Are Scary and Char!

It's quite a long one, I must warn you ha!

---------------------

Basically, I had to fill in a short questionnaire, and send in a picture of an OOTD. I filled in the questionnaire and sent it on time, but unfortunately I was a little late with my photo. The reason for this was that I personally didn't think I had worn anything that exciting, with it being exam period, and so therefore I would wait until I was in London where I would be more dressed up and could get some more exciting photos.

What I didn't plan on was the internet not working at my hotel, and when it did, being so slow that my priority had to be to get my case notes off. Since I realised this, I sent the girl in question an email to apologise for the photo being late and the promise that it would be in as soon as I possibly could. In return I received quite a curt email saying that I was to get it in ASAP, but I brushed it off as I thought that it was just me being silly.

The next day I sent in my photos and attached a quick note to say sorry that it was late, with the explanation that when I was involved in a case of such high cost, that had to be my priority both time and internet wise. Here is when the problem started.

In the first of an impolite series of emails, I was told that she and her 'team' were very busy too, and that my photos would not be included as I should not have 'put it off'. Now I do completely agree with her, and see her point, but unfortunately sometimes that's life and I was not a fan of being spoken to like a child.

In response I said that I understood why the photos that would not be included and that was fine, and again reiterated that due to unforeseen circumstances that was why I was a little late, and that it was not a regular occurrence for me.

She then began to analyse my use of time in a very impolite manner and suggested that she should have offered to pay me 'like she had all the other bloggers', since 'money was so important to me' - I feel she missed the point a little here, although I now question why she would have offered to pay all the others for their time but not myself - albeit I would't have taken any money off her!

At this point I did a little digging, I was curious as to how high profile the other bloggers she had on board were since they were being paid, and since she kept referring to her 'team' I assumed that her blog was perhaps professionally affiliated with a company or was a very well established blog. That was the only reason I could think of that she would be speaking to me in such a rude manner.

It turned out that she was a relatively new blogger who had started around a month ago and was a student. So pretty much the same as all of us who start out in the blogging world. The other bloggers she had were, on the whole, about on the same level of followers as myself or even under, so I wasn't the least popular blogger she was using.

I then decided to ask her a few questions about her blog and her 'team' to gain some clarification on the subject. The email asked:

'I was just wondering if I could have a little more information on [her blog]? For example, is this a full time venture, how many people are on your team and what are their roles. Are you affiliated with a large company, and how many other bloggers have you got on board?'

She replied by saying that it 'was just one interview - you have misunderstood, it's nothing big' to which I had to rephrase my statement so that she understood I was asking whether her blog was her full time venture, as opposed to my contribution. I also added that I was purely interested as she seemed to be very professional, with her 'team' and everything else that she was implying, and I was impressed if this was the case.

In short she then continued to misunderstand my question (you're obviously not an ongoing feature - you provided one post) and say that she wasn't going to tell me anything about her 'team' in again, an incredibly offensive manner.

At this point I had grown too skeptical of her to stand for it anymore. I had seen comments from her linking my blog as her own on another blog, and she was using another well known bloggers profile picture for a while too. Things just weren't adding up. I firmly believe that there is no 'team' and if there is it may well be her and her cat. As for all of the nonsense about how busy her 'team' was getting the blog ready, she had credited no-one (which is rather rude if it is true) and other than a nice layout I don't see what anyone else could be doing. She asked all of the participants to answer the questions and attach the photo into a word document, so all she was going to have to do was some copying and pasting. Hardly a mean feat that would require a group of people.

My final response was to ask her to cease all contact with me, as I found her aggressive and rude. I also added that I was skeptical about what information she had provided as it was sketchy at best. - Not something that I ever want to have to do again!

---------------------------

To me, if I knew that what I had been saying was true and someone didn't believe me, I would send something to prove it and then tell them that they were out of line. But alas, this still wasn't the case which only convinced me further as the only thing I further received was more abuse.

Reading back on this I realise it may not look that bad, but I have omitted a lot of the content and I'm not someone who is easily upset, but I can honestly say that she had managed to do just that. I have shown both a friend and Alex the emails and they were shocked at how she was speaking to me - but maybe they were biased? I would also like to add that at no point was I aggressive or rude towards her, but maintained a firm dignified response after every email, which I can prove if necessary as I still have them all on file!

Let me know if you think I'm just being a wuss, I hope I haven't bored you all to tears (if any of you actually got this far!)

Lea

x

[EDIT: I just wanted to also add that I severely doubt that she will ever read my blog again, she is not and has never been subscribed to it - so please don't think I'm trashing someone to their face.]