Annals of Communication—Thank you, Dave
I had a breakfast meeting the other day at the Mid-Town Café on 56th between Lex and Third in New York City. It’s not a fancy place, but one of many non-descript diners where the waitresses call you honey as you walk in the door and ask if you want coffee as you are getting seated.
The meeting was arranged by my long-time colleague, Gary Fishman, as a casual introduction to meet the principal of an investor relations advisory firm, similar to PondelWilkinson. For purposes of this blog, I’ll just call him Dave.
No need here to discuss our conversation, which is not the point of this piece, so fast forward to the end of our meal. (I had oatmeal and blueberries, the other two gents had eggs.) The waitress brought our check. All three of us made a move to our wallets. My credit card was out first, and with the total check being $19.95, I volunteered to buy. Then we went on our ways.
Within a couple of hours, I received a thank-you email from Gary for my time and for buying breakfast. I was going to email David to tell him how much I enjoyed meeting him, but thought I would wait a while, for certainly he also would be sending me a thank-you email…or so I thought. Then I forgot about it.
I returned to California, and the following day, I received a letter in the mail. It was from Dave, saying how much he enjoyed our visit and thanking me for playing host. In today’s era of speed, did I need instant thanks via email anyway? Probably not.
Receiving the letter struck a chord. While the message could have been precisely the same in an email, there’s something to be said for taking the time to send a letter through the U.S. Postal Service…it commands attention. Compared with hundreds of email messages that we all receive every day, it was the only personal communication I received via mail all week.
— Roger Pondel, rpondel@pondel.com
