November 2, 2011
When a Wall Post Is Not Enough
For a while now, I remember most of my friend’s birthdays from Facebook. I am sure I am not alone. On days when I am extremely busy, I sometimes find myself forgetting to check whose birthday it might be today. The next day, I will take the extra step of check whose birthday it was yesterday.
The other day I was appalled to find that it was my mother-in-law’s birthday I had forgotten the day before. The next step was to view her Wall. Oh my! She received well over three dozen birthday greetings. Even my wife and son had left a Wall Post – and somehow forgotten to mention to me the fact that it was Mum’s/Grandma’s birthday!
A belated Wall Post would never do. I needed to do something better. She was on holiday in a rather remote location – florists were out of the question. There were none within 300 kilometers of her hotel! What could I do. I wracked my brain for a few minutes when the obvious hit me. An eCard!
I spent the next several minutes looking through all of the various birthday options and chose one that best suited the relationship I had with my mother-in-law. It was not an overly strained relationship, but she certainly did not consider me her son either. I did not wish to offend her with an overly humorous mother-in-law eCard. I selected very nice eCard. I added a short message pertaining to her current travels. I suppose I was quite proud of the eCard.
The next day I checked my Facebook account. My mother-in-law had posted on her Wall. “Thanks everyone for the birthday greetings – especially Jonathan who sent me a delightful eCard.”
Guess what? This taught me a valuable lesson. Now when I really want to impress somebody, I send them an eCard on their birthday – or any other occasion for that matter. Sometimes I won’t bother with posting something on their wall. The nice thing about eCards is that they are personal. I can say things that perhaps I would not want to say publicly. And people really appreciate the fact that I went out of my way to send them an eCard. And honestly, it’s not really out of my way.
