Smile-breaks
Spam’s No Problem – It’s the Rest of the E-mail that Takes Hours
If I could only leave it alone. I have the best of intentions, but that little icon on the desktop beckons and I can’t resist. I click. I tell myself I’ll quick check the e-mail and get right back to work.
I shouldn’t click. It isn’t the spam. The spam I can handle. Delete – delete – delete – delete. Even days when there’re hundreds, doesn’t take more than a minute or two.
It’s the other e-mail. Today I only had three e-mails after I deleted all the spam. One was from my daughter in Northern California. I hadn’t heard from her since Saturday so I figured I’d see if there was anything I needed to respond to right away. If not, I’d wait ’til I had more time so I wouldn’t have to rush.
I clicked and lo and behold - she sent a card! Wonder what for? I knew I’d better wait and open it later. E-mailed greeting cards are my downfall. Once I get out of e-mail mode and into greeting card mode, I’m doomed.
Curiosity got the better of me. Besides, I was already here and it only takes a second to open a card. One click brought me to an animated card. Isn’t it cute?! I ’specially like that jiggly tune it plays. Whoops! I missed something. That’s okay – there’s the replay button, right there.
After I replayed it three times, I replied with a thank you and told her how much I loved the card and then I remembered. Ohmigosh! Today’s her anniversary! I went back to the card and clicked on the place where you can send a card back to the person who sent you the card and there were at least twenty anniversary cards and I didn’t know which one to send her because I know that some of those cards aren’t so innocent as they look and I’d better check them out before I send one off to her with the wrong/inappropriate greeting - like, “Congratulations on the fourth anniversary of your divorce…”
I clicked them open, one by one, to read the message and listen to the music when there was music and if there wasn’t any music, I went back to look for one that has music because they’re so much more fun than the ones that only move around but don’t tinkle or whistle while the balloons are flying up in the air.
A few hours later I sent off a fine card to my daughter, and moved on to the next e-mail. This one was from a gal I used to work with. She’s staying in Michigan with her mother, who’s not doing too well, and has lots of news about her kids, the weather in Michigan, her mom’s progress, and all the relatives she’s seeing whom she hasn’t seen for several years.
Well of course I have to reply, so I tell her I hope her mother’s doing better and it’s good that she’s seeing all her relatives and too bad they’re having all that snow and sleet while she’s there and that it’s been quite warm and sunny here and I’ve been really busy and I hope she can come back soon…
It just happens that she’s on the Internet while I’m writing all this – and so is my daughter, who’s just replied to the e-mail I sent her. Well, as long as I’m here, I might as well see what she has to say, so I open it and darned if she doesn’t ask me about three questions that I answer as quick as I can but by the time I’ve answered and sent off the e-mail, my friend has replied to my reply and I can’t resist opening it and I haven’t even got to that third e-mail.
Spam? Spam’s no problem.