I have had over 1622 pieces of email in just one of my e-mail boxes.  Over half of which I didn’t even bother to open, because it’s just gibberish.  The same companies woo me every week with the same sad and tired sale, just packaged differently.  The sad part about it is that at the end of everything they are saying, to me it’s just translated as glib and hype.

There are requests waiting in my mailbox to be “friends” with people that I have never met nor had a vocal conversation with.  It’s amazing to me that we live in a society that has defined friendship by a one liner and a request, with the expectation that a prompt response is due.

What in the world?

Call me old fashioned, but at the end of the day I still treasure the timeless qualities of people who will pick up the phone and say the simple word ‘hi’ and mean it.  In a society that is so competitive for quantity (of friends) vs. quality of friends, one must truly be grateful for those people who have more than just a photo and a one-liner on our profile page.  Don’t get me wrong, this can be effective for some.  I have actually met some people on line like that and have had the opportunity to get to know them.  But they too, like me treasure true friendship.

Also, for the companies who only care about pushing their product on me without caring about what I need, the glib and hype they’re offering is shallow and a royal waste of space.  I hope not to ever fall into this category.  Please pull me on the coat tail and let me know if I ever become impersonal, and empty. 

So let me conclude by saying, that although I do find pleasure in writing business excerpts, I want to express to you, that you compel me to not waste space.  I’m not certain what type of day lies ahead of you, but I hope that it is one that is filled with satisfaction, whether it’s an annual review; meeting a deadline; an important business meeting or signing a contract.  I hope that you have much fulfillment by the time your day has ended, and when you look back over your accomplishment you will be pleased with the outcome.

I believe that in the world of IM’s and text-messaging, we have lost the art of extending genuine graciousness to people.  We are so interested in the convenience of getting our point across and maximizing our own agendas that we have allowed complete strangers to fill up our space with empty glib and hype that usually adds nothing to the overall value of our day, and often enough, leaves us filling empty and deprived of human goodness.  We are being wooed to trust complete strangers with our most precious and private information, and we date profiles rather than spending genuine time getting to “know” people.

I’ve decided to delete the empty space filler e-mails that mask themselves as urgent in my box, and do business with people that have a twinkle in their eye, and a warm smile either on their face or in their voice.  This is what creating customer relations and mutual acquaintences is truly about.

I can get glib and hype all day from empty television shows and commercials.  Connecting with someone who invites me to “click” to become their friend, well....it seems that that has become the era of viral media we are forced to respond to.  So I guess if at the end of the day the attached profile photo has a warm smile, and twinkle in their eye with a fuzzy headline of "hi", I can conform to connecting with people I would otherwise not have the priviledge of 'knowing'.