Email I received this morning:
“On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 3:17 AM, REHM, DALE <dale.rehm@hp.com> wrote:
To Whom it May Concern,
I enjoy Ms. Wu’s work and I am wondering if I may request an autographed photograph. Thank you for your time.Regards,
Dale Rehm
HP”
(mailing address removed)
WARNING FLAGS that went off in my head:
1.) I have not done any noteworthy acting work
2.) I have not done any noteworthy acting work that is visible online
3.) He doesn’t exist on Google except on others’ blog posts about creepy autographed photo requests. (see http://erincronican.blogspot.com/2009/03/really-who-are-you.html – she received the exact same letter, and has a theory as to why someone would send out these requests to (mostly) unknown actors)
4.) Should he really be using a work email for this type of request? HP Should Get Mad Right Now.
See, if you’re a friend and you want a headshot, cool. My grandma has one in her living room too. If I’m famous, cool. Famous people do signings and appearances. But Really Random Stranger Wanting Autographed Photo Of Young Woman Who Is A Wannabe Actor just doesn’t sound good. Hence the “slightly creepy”.
Anyway, Sorry Mister Dale Rehm, you are not getting a photograph, and this blog post is staying online so other actors know they’re not the only ones receiving your strange and widespread request.
*EDIT* 6:32 AM: have emailed HP’s Corporate Compliance / business ethics department regarding employee email address abuse.
Hi, Beverly! Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for including my link in your blog post, and for standing with me to helped educate other actors!
By the way- I happened to notice (via my web stats) that someone using HP servers was on my blog today- the stats show that the person typed “dale rehm” into Google and landed on my blog, and then he spent some time navigating around to see my various posts on fan requests. I could also see a path from your blog to my blog (at one point, he was on your page and clicked the link you posted, which lead him to my page) – I went ahead and took a screenshot of the stats, in case you want to use them in your complaint to HP.
It takes a lot of courage to expose concerns and potential scams, so I really applaud everything you are doing here. And, I am looking forward to getting to know you better through this blog!
Erin =)