The importance of copy editing

Some of us are grammar snobs, some of us rail against apostrophe abuse, and some of us feel that the Oxford comma is the hill on which we wish to die. Others of us really could not possibly care less, and feel that as long as the general idea is being communicated correctly, the details are unimportant. There is room here at VBB central for people on both ends of this spectrum, but I'm pretty sure no one thinks that reading for content is a step you can safely skip. Witness, the referral letter I received today.

Obviously, I have rewritten this letter so as to avoid accidentally identifying the sender, who clearly has either a disgruntled soon-to-be-former employee typing up his referral letters, or a habit of writing snarky letters as a first draft, and subsequently changing them before sending them out. I must admit to being frequently guilty of the latter - although mine are generally more along the lines of "Thanks a lot for sending me this bullshit case with the bitchy owner who has zero interest in helping her dog, shmucko," and are immediately deleted and redone. I am reasonably sure that I've never actually sent one out like that. I THINK I would have found out somehow... at the very least when I saw the copy of the letter in the pet's record at the next visit, because I do keep copies of the letters I send out in our computerized medical record.

Poor Dr. Fire-Someone. Hopefully at least he'll have sweet dreams.