Dear Annie: While clearing out my desk and bookshelf for some late spring-cleaning, I came across a few business cards from folks I, at one time, thought I would definitely need or want to stay in contact with. But I haven’t thought about them since their cards got lost in the shuffle. This got me thinking: How important or valuable are business cards these days?
In my experience as a young professional, there are two things I know for certain about how things are done these days: It’s all about whom you know, and a lot of networking happens online, whether through LinkedIn or email. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy handing my card out to people I meet (especially a cute guy at a bar). It makes me feel confident and reputable. (Can you say “adulting”?) But is the move refreshing and old-school, or is it a waste of paper that will get stuck between a pile of receipts and valet stubs? — Clever or Never?
Dear Clever or Never: In an age of all-digital everything, I find business cards refreshingly old-school. They make a good impression that can help someone remember you even if he or she loses your card. And making an impression is what old-fashioned, technically-no-longer-necessary niceties are all about. It’s why it’s still advisable to send a handwritten thank-you note after a job interview even though you could just send an email. When you give out your card to people, just be sure to get their contact info, too, so you can follow up online.
Dozens of print companies now offer business cards that are recycled, recyclable, biodegradable — even seeded, meaning your new contact can bury the card in the yard and, in a few months, have tomatoes. Talk about a lasting impression. (c) Annie Lane @ Creators.com
No, I cannot say “adulting!” Who talks that way? Fer shizzle, my homies, I do not twerk either. Please! Speak English, or don’t expect me to take you seriously.
And it’s a serious question you raise, right up there with the meaning of life: business cards. Snort.
Dear Annie: I’m a pre-veterinary student. When I came back to campus this fall, my apartment complex was overrun with cats. I recognized one that belonged to a neighbor who graduated and moved out last May. I took the cat to an animal shelter that I worked with in the past. (Last spring, I helped the shelter to get the university to stop euthanizing feral cats trapped on campus.) But the people there turned down the cat and said accepting stray animals isn’t in their mission statement. They told me to just spay the cat and turn her loose.
The vet wanted $395 to spay her, which I couldn’t afford. My friends said euthanasia is murder, but none would help pay for spaying her. I couldn’t keep her because my lease doesn’t allow pets. And I couldn’t just set her loose, because she would inevitably end up having more kittens. Stray cats often end up contracting diseases, being hit by cars or suffering other painful fates.
The only compassionate option left was euthanasia. It cost $50, much less than spaying her. After I took her to the vet, I lied to my friends and said I had dumped her in the country.
I want to beg college students everywhere not to get kittens. When summer comes, they just get dumped on the streets. Then someone like me will catch the abandoned cats, have to pay to have them euthanized and then live forever with that shame. — Ashamed in Idaho
Dear Ashamed: I, too, implore students to take animal adoption seriously. When you take that furry friend home, it’s meant to be forever, not for a semester. If you adopt, be sure to spay or neuter as soon as possible. Spaying and neutering reduce the overpopulation problem, decreasing pet homelessness and the number of sad stories like this one. The ASPCA’s website has a searchable database of low-cost spay and neuter clinics around the country. Look for the “Pet Care” section on the website.
And after the business card letter, I figured there would be another fluff piece. (Ooh, I made a pun!)
I feel really sad for this guy. I don’t know if he did the right thing, because I’m not an expert on the cat crisis. But I know he feels bad and tried his hardest, and that makes me sad.
When my brother lived in his old neighborhood, there was definitely a cat situation going on. His next-door neighbor was a friendly woman who told us about how she’d gathered up many of the kitties and taken them in to be spayed or neutered. She took them to the SNIP clinic, a local place here in Louisville, and they killed at least half the kitties with their drive-thru spaying and neutering techniques. (It’s worth knowing that if you’re charged $25, your cat might die.) This woman was heartbroken. All she was going to do was release the kitties once they’d been operated on, but it broke her heart.
It made me sad, too. She did all that work to help control the pet population. I know someone who’d be proud of her, up in heaven:
Wait, I’m sorry. My sources are telling me that Bob Barker is still alive. Wow! Live on, buddy.
OK, so, uh, the Ambien is kicking in. Where was I going with this?
I think I’ve lost control of my post to the Ambien, Adam Sandler, and Bob Barker.
OK, this post just sank to a new low. For those of you who don’t know, I passionately hate her royal highness, Queen Oprah of the Mindless People. Wasn’t I talking about cats?
What the hell? It’s like I’m not even in control of my post anymore. Who found that obscene image and posted it? Is Oprah…. semiconscious? She might need a CAT scan. (Groan.)
OK, It’s all good. I release control of my own blog post to the forces of prescription sedation, wicked felines, and of course, her magesty, Queen Oprah.
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