I am taking part of this free weight loss surgery give-away competition and every few days I remind people on my FB to vote for me. I have repeatedly told people to let me know if they do not want to receive messages from me. Pretty much everybody in my FB is a personal friend or a family member anyway. I only had this one friend (a female who used to be a police officer with me) that used a name of her gym as her username. Nonetheless, I did not know that anybody else had access to her FB account but it turns out her boyfriend, who apparently co-owns the gym with my former co-worker, did... I have never met the guy and he knows absolutely nothing about me! Yet, he sent me the below message as a response to my group reminder asking my friends to vote for me (I took out their names, just in case):

"TAKE US OFF YOUR LIST FOR THIS!!! THANK YOU WE DONT BELIEVE IN EASY WAY OUTS SURGERY!! THAT END UP BEING UNHEALTHEIR FOR YOU IN THE END! BOTTOM LINE JUST QUIT BEING LAZY AND DIET AND EXERCISE MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE NOT A JOB!!!!!! HOPE THIS GET'S THRU TO YOU!! THIS IS R NOT C!!! JUST DO IT!!

...And below is my reply to him... Deserved?

"Dear R,

Thank you for letting me know that you would not like to be on the list anymore. I had no idea that somebody else but C, who is my former co-worker from the police department, reads this account. If you had just asked me to take you off the list, I would have respectfully done so without any further reply except "done, thanks". However, since you decided to offer your "expert" opinion on weight loss, I felt inclined to respond to you...

Clearly you have not read my other e-mails or you would know that I very much believe in making diet and exercise a lifestyle. That is the very reason I want this surgery. It is not an easy way out as one has to commit to a rigorous pre-op and post-op diet lasting multiple weeks and then permanently change one's eating habits. Otherwise there is a serious risk of complications. It is simply a life-changing way to help (or force, if you like) people like me to make those permanent changes in eating habits. And as far as exercising... I love it and have no problems in that area. I have not always been obese and there are multiple reasons why I have become one during the recent years. One of them, without a question, is probably emotional eating. You, as a gym owner who gives out weight loss challenges that claim to be wholistic in their approach, should probably educate yourself on the complex nature of obesity if you truly want to help your clients. It is not as simple as "quit being lazy" (and there is NOTHING lazy about me by the way- what a stereotypical approach to someone with a weight problem) but you clearly are clueless about this.

Rendy, do all of us a favor and take some time to educate yourself about the topic you claim to be an expert on! My best to you & C! Henriikka"

I also think you responded very well and professionally. I think a "letter to the editor" of your local paper might also be in order. You don't have to name the gym, but you could open the eyes of the gym owners in your area who may not be educated. Good luck! Hope you win your contest!

I absolutely love Cocoabean's idea. Also, I'd let him know that it's against Facebook's terms of service to hack into someone's account (that is, if he was using his girlfriend's account to respond to you). I'd absolutely post his reply to your Wall using @nameofgym as a tag so that it tags to him to the message. Let people see how (un)caring the owner is over there.

Between the overreaction and his use of caps, just chalk it up to Little Man Syndrome (or Little D*ck Syndrome). That would make me feel better

Thank you ladies! Great suggestions! I love the support I am getting from all wonderful people here.