Last week, I sent an e-mail to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (jeff@amazon.com) about their new Search Inside the Book feature, a letter essentially identical to my post of a few days back. The response:

From: Powers, Alice
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 4:07 PM
To: N-L, Alec
Subject: RE: Search Inside the Book!

Dear Alec, I hope you don't mind my responding on Jeff's behalf. Although he does read his own email his schedule doesn't allow him to respond personally.

I wanted to get back to you quickly and tell you how much we love getting emails such as yours! The fact that you took a few minutes out of your day simply to share your thoughts is genuinely appreciated!

I also appreciate your concern. I'm not sure I have a witty response that can truly address your well thought out email. I guess it's the price we pay for progress......

Thanks for being an Amazon.com customer and try not to worry too much.

Kind regards,
Alice Powers

Awww, that's the nicest thing a corporate behemoth has ever said to me! (I should point out, for the benefit of our occasional readers, that Jeff Bezos used to work at my firm before going off, founding his own company, and becoming wealthier than our entire client base combined...so I guess I was halfway hoping for a personal response. Still, I'm touched.)