what happened to birthday cards that made your day? the cards where it would say something funny or cheesy and then the person would write a sweet or thoughtful message inside. and getting cards from all your family and friends. what happened to those birthdays?
debi (the admin clerk at the SX plant) got me a card and had everyone at work sign it and gave it to me today (even though my birthday was saturday - no biggie). I waited until I got back to my office - and I'm glad I did, because when I read it, I got tears in my eyes. not because anyone wrote something that touched my heart. but because no one really wrote anything. only two people wrote more than three words. here's my card breakdown: 14 out of the 19 people who signed my card just wrote "happy birthday [insert name here]." three people didn't even do that much and just wrote their names (including my boss!). now I know I'm new and I know not very many people know me that well, but I'd figure those who I do talk to on a daily basis would have a little bit more to say than just a "happy birthday." something like "happy birthday, hope you have a great day" or "best wishes on you birthday" or something - I don't care - just something more than two words!
I almost feel hurt and as if I'm not liked around the office. I mean, the people I work with can't take the time out of their day to write a little message for my birthday. especially if they know they had a sub-par birthday. I feel like I don't have a personal relationship with anyone I work with because they can't take the time to write something on my card. my relationships at work are strictly work and that makes me sad. every else that I've worked at (minus sierrita) I've had somewhat of a personal relationship with my coworkers. I would hang out with the other interns outside of work. and I remember for my birthday when I worked at asarco everyone signed my card and had something to say.
then I got to thinking. I got a total of 6 cards this year for my birthday. (not from my so-called "fiance" - but we'll save that for another post.) I remember being a kid and getting so many cards from everyone and getting to open them all and read the pre-written message and then get to read a personal message from the sender. you don't get that anymore. not because I'm older, but because technology's there. any kid today probably doesn't get cards very often. forget cards. they're almost obsolete. instead of getting a bunch of cards, I got a bunch of text messages and facebook posts. and they said the same thing! "happy birthday." (minus the few good friends I have that took the time to say something thoughtful.) I mean am I really that horrible and unlikeable of a person? or are you just lazy? I'd rather you not say "happy birthday" if you don't mean it and I feel that if you're just saying "happy birthday" with nothing else, then you really don't mean it. you're just trying to look like a nice person. a real friend would say something nice. and I feel hurt because after summer fashion week (hosted by emery at moms are for everyone!) I've really realized how much a simple little comment or compliment could really make someone's day. and I feel a quick message in a card can have the same effect. it really shows you care about them.
technology's really taken over our lives. it's really taken the personal-ness out of anything. it makes me sad.
What happened to cards?? I got one card in the mail from my cousin and I was stoked! I actually got an ecard that was pretty fun too.
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