That’s a lot of Wind Ensemble emails going to someone not affiliated with the Wind Ensemble

Betsy Ladyzhets, like most college students, uses her school email pretty frequently. So, when her emails started mysteriously going to a strange hotmail account instead of to her, she was, understandably, less than pleased. Explanations for this phenomenon may or may not be forthcoming.

Last week, I was applying for a work-study position for next semester.

Now, this isn’t exactly a complicated process. We’re all students of a prestigious, competitive university here, we all know how the admissions process goes – you fill out some forms, you bullshit some essays, you change the font on your resume a few times to make it look more “professional”, and you beg a professor to write you a letter of recommendation. My problem came with that last thing.

In search of a recommendation, I emailed my English professor from last semester. I’d done well in her class, participated in discussions, and actually done the reading most of the time, so she seemed a favorable candidate to write my praises for this position. As a result, I was surprised to receive no response from her for a full three days after I sent the email. I took to refreshing my inbox frantically, like a desperate high schooler who just asked his crush to prom via Facebook message. Throughout the week, it became increasingly difficult to focus in class, on studying, or even on writing Bwog posts – if this professor wouldn’t write me a recommendation letter, who would? It was far too close to the application deadline to ask anyone else at this point.

Finally, on Thursday (the day before the application was due), I worked up the courage to send a second email. This one received a reply within a few hours: I first replied to this on Tuesday, the professor said. I apologize for not realizing this sooner: my reply appears to have gone to a different email, andreathoms9033@hotmail.com.

My fears about not getting a recommendation letter were relieved, but my confusion at the mysterious workings of my Barnard email were far from it. See, this wasn’t the first time an email supposed to go to me had instead gone to andreathoms9033@hotmail.com. The first time, it had just been an email from my friend. I got the same information from him in person a day later. That didn’t seem like such a big deal – but then, it happened again. And again.

And then, I failed to receive an email about setting up an interview for a summer internship position. I didn’t even know about this until I got a second email from the same coordinator: I apologize, she said. My first response to you appears to have gone to – can you guess what address? Yeah. Of course. andreathoms9033@hotmail.com. And then, as though that wasn’t enough, while I was writing this very post, I realized that I’d missed an email about picking up programs for an event I’m helping run this weekend. That email, like countless other messages I might not even know about, went not to me but to andreathoms9033@hotmail.com.

Here’s the thing: I have no idea what conspires at the address andreathoms9033@hotmail.com.  I don’t know anyone named Andrea Thoms – I don’t think I even know anyone who still uses hotmail. I have no idea why this shady individual might be receiving emails instead of me.

Does she enjoy reading college wind ensemble business emails and awkward correspondence with professors? Is she peeking at the next scripts for CUMB or imagining herself as the kind of plucky young musician who bothers her friends in the Varsity Show until they let her into the pit? Has she been sitting in a dark attic somewhere, sipping stale box wine and cackling as she reads my emails to the dulcet sounds of horror movie soundtracks? Whoever she is, I want to know.

If you’re reading this now, Andrea Thoms, I want you to know that I’m not mad at you. You haven’t screwed up my life that much, compared to, say, my Intro to Stat class. I think I can trust myself to figure out when emails don’t get to me, and that I’m smart enough to find new and improved methods of communication. But I would like to hear from you. Just once. I just need to know the answer to this one question:

Screenshots of a desperate victim of email mystery via the author and her Barnard Gmail