Some people pick up my columns each week looking for a laugh. Some pick it up just to see how much I’m going to piss them off any given week.

While I appreciate those who understand where I come from, I also hear all the sneers and jeers each Friday as my columns are revealed to all of you.

I’ve heard all kinds of things about me and my columns while roaming the halls of various buildings such as:

“The Chart shouldn’t be printing this trash.”

“What a disgusting pig.”

And my personal favorite, “This guy is an idiot.”

So some of you hate me. The things I hear coupled with the comments left on The Chart’s Web site are enough to prove that.

That might hurt another columnist’s feelings, but I’m strangely at peace with being hated.

I understand that my job isn’t to make you all love me or even brighten your day just that little bit.

What some of you need to understand is that my job, as a columnist, is to get you to pick up the paper and start reading. That’s what I was brought to The Chart staff to do.

Whether you’re reading it to see if I piss you off or reading it because you think I’m funny, the bottom line is that you picked up the paper and started reading. After you read my stuff, you’ll read other stories, and even more importantly than that, you’ll tell others. Well, kiddies, that is the point.

Now don’t feel bad. It’s not like I outsmarted you. I just did my job.

Doing my job is what’s elicited all the responses you’ve thrown out throughout the semester, and those responses might just make me famous.

Think about it: a lot of people make lucrative careers out of being hated. Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin jump immediately to mind. And while I hate the thought of being compared to either of those goofs, I’m intrigued by the prospect.

You read my stuff and you tell a friend how awful it is. They read it. Then they tell someone else, and that person tells someone else, and so on and so forth until I’ve developed what’s known as a following.

It seems I may have already developed a bit of a following, and before long, that following could actually turn into a fan base. Once that’s established, I might just get my own radio talk show or, better yet, some sort of speaking tour. That would be super, wouldn’t it?

So go ahead. Hate me and hate the things I say. Just make sure you keep reading and telling your friends how awful you think I am.

They say all publicity is good publicity, and I’ll gladly take it.