The Writing Back Thing
It is a lot easier to write a letter than to find a stamp and actually mail it. I write back to people right after getting a letter. If I didn’t do things this way I would not respond to my mail. It’s the next few minutes after addressing the envelope and putting the letter inside that are critical to the response time.
I have lost letters behind my desk, under my bed, on my porch, in my closet, and down the drain. I put it down and go to get a stamp. On the way downstairs something diverts me. My dog has to be put out or MCI calls or the Avon Lady comes to the door. The letter stays on my desk. Things get piled on top of it. Clothes, homework, papers, magazines, a hamster cage.
By the time I find the letter in March I open it to see if it is still sendable. The first line reads: Hi, how was your Thanksgiving? The letter gets chucked in the trash can.
But I do write back to everybody, which is more than I can say for some people. What is the deal with those people? I have come to the conclusion that anybody who doesn’t write back to me is illiterate. They can’t read my letter to know they got one, and even if they could they wouldn’t be able to write back.
I understand about the letter thing though, because it takes effort. The people I have no patience with are the people who don’t email you back a letter you sent on April 21, 1997 until May 3, 2008. It is not hard to reply to an email. All you have to do is hit the reply button, and the computer automatically sets it all up for you. The person’s original letter appears on screen, so you don’t even have to remember what they wrote. Their email address will automatically be put in the To: field, so you don’t have to know their address. It is all set. It even gives you a title for your letter. ‘Re: Whatever the other person wrote for the subject box.’ Then you can take two minutes to type a response. There is no creativity or thought involved in replying to an email.
So why don’t some people reply to emails? Because they are illiterate, that’s the only explanation :-)
These types of people are also not good with numbers. I jokingly reminded one of my friends when I saw her that she hadn’t sent me a letter back.
"You only sent me one letter," she tried to rationalize.
One letter? Since when does one letter take up four stamps? Hmm. I used four 32 cent stamps. That means I sent four letters. Why didn’t I get a 1600 on the SAT?
I love sending postcards, but they are a pain in the neck. I am always buying cute little postcards to send, but I have more to say than room I am given on the back of a postcard. I write really small and half of the words spill over onto the side where the person’s address is supposed to go. I know I am in trouble when I start writing on the picture of the ocean or kitten or clever saying or Ross and Rachel.
I am paranoid that the mailman will read my postcards. Sometimes I try to use secret code words and hope the other person will know what I mean. Or I generalize and say things like ‘Remember when we did the thing at that place with those people? That was a blast!’ If someone who had never been to camp before read a postcard I sent to one of my camp friends, they’d think I was completely off my rocker.