e-mail V phone call

[Eamonn]

Letters were real big in our family.

My Grandparents who lived in Ireland would send me money in a card and I was expected to write them a thank you letter, they would write me a letter thanking me for my letter and I would reply to their letter. I seemed to spend half my childhood writing letters.

Once I was old enough to pay my own phone bill,I started phoning and my letter writing slowed down a lot. Then along came e-mail and as more and more people bought computers and Internet service I started using e-mail more and more.

If I need an answer from someone I still use the phone.

I however do feel like I'm becoming a lazy toad and using e-mail more than I should.

Which do you feel is more personal a e-mail or a call which if you are not home you feel that you should return?

Eamonn.

[scoutldr]

The older I get, the more I hate phones. They are so...shall we say, rude. Answer me, right now, I don't care if it's convenient for you or not. Even more rude are those who refuse to leave a message on my machine, and keep calling back every 15 minutes. I now have caller-ID and screen my calls...turns out only a small percentage are from people with whom I actually wish to converse.

 

I have come to prefer e-mail. I can send the same message to a dozen people at once, and if they are cooperative, I can have answers in 24 hrs. Much preferable to me spending every evening on the phone leaving messages on others' machines, then waiting for them to call me back at inopportune moments, if at all. If people check their e-mail regularly and respond promptly, it works like a charm. If not, they probably won't return my phone calls, either, so I've still saved a lot of time.

[Kahuna]

I love email. It's fast, convenient and gets the job done. I also like voice mail. I much prefer someone who calls and leaves the message: "I need to meet with you about so and so, can we get together at such and such," rather than just, "It's Joe, give me a call." Sometimes I can dispose of an entire business matter without ever actually talking to the other person live.

 

I only write letters when someone dies. If they don't take email, I send 'em a fax. The only bad thing is, letters were such a lasting record. I have all my dad's vmail from WWII to my mom and some of my uncles to my grandmother. Our generation won't leave that to our kids, but since I'm not leaving any kids, it doesn't matter in my case.

[Eamonn]

Kahuna

I'm not sure why but when you say " but since I'm not leaving any kids, it doesn't matter in my case" I find this kinda sad.

My old Group Scout Leader from the 17th Fulham Pioneers, Old Charlie Reed, who I always called Mr. Reed to his face, even when I was an adult!! But I always called him Old Charlie Reed behind his back.

Mr Reed for some reason, something to do with him being a hospital administrator never got to serve in WWII. He did keep the Troop newsletter going sending it out to all the Troop members who were serving. After the war when one of the guys didn't come back, they decided to build our Scout Headquarters. Mr Reed was Cubmaster of the 17th for eons!! He also served as District Secretary. He never had any kids and his wife had passed away. When he joined her he left me all his Scouting papers and in this was his diary.

Over the years Mr Reed and I had crossed swords a few times, me being so young and like a bull in a china shop and him being the wise old owl.

When I sat down with all this paper and started reading it became so very clear to me just how much he loved Scouting and the 17th.

Sad to say the 17th and the District are no more.

I hope that when the White House at Gilwell Park is renovated that the War Newsletters will become part of the Gilwell collection.

Charlie even in his diary, when we were going head to head didn't have a bad word.

He used to look at me and say "Slowly, slowly cathee monkey." He said BP had used it, but I have never found where?

Over time Charlie did receive many of the Scouting Awards that the UK Scout Association has to offer, but thanks to his letters and the things that he left me his legacy will be the love he had for the 17th Fulham (Pioneers)

God Bless you Mr Reed.

Eamonn.

[Lynda J]

I love e-mail. I have a cousin in Washington State. We use to exchange Christmas and birthday cards. Little else. We now e-mail at least once a month. Sometimes more than that. It might be just one line but we know much more about each other now than we did before.

[CA_Scouter]

Email is a wonderful tool, I much prefer it to speaking with carbon-based life forms. :-)

 

Seriously though, it gives you the opportunity to develop a well formed and thought out response, unlike a phone call where you have to make a quick decision right away.

 

Used properly, its great, but you have to be careful, as I've noted in a previous post, some people will put words into email they would never say to your face, and the anonymity of posts give them a shield. ( remember the movie Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon, he said "its amazing what you can do when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror every morning" )

 

I recently received an email complaining about a situation at our last campout. However, the sender never spoke to me personally, and spammed the entire troop with the allegations ( and named specific scouts ). These allegations turned out to be false, and the incident that occurred had already been dealt with at the campout by myself and my staff.

 

Email is a wonderful and very powerful tool. Use the Force wisely!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EagleInKY]

I use e-mail for general announcements and reminders. If a person doesn't check their e-mail at least once a week, shame on them.

 

If I positively need an answer immediately, I use phone. Sometimes both if necessary. And, I tend to use cell phones more than home or work numbers. All my primary leaders cell phone numbers are programmed in my cell phone.

 

If I need an answer, but not immediately, I send an e-mail and ask for a response by a certain time. If I don't hear from them, I'll follow with a phone call after that.

[Kahuna]

I'm not sure why but when you say " but since I'm not leaving any kids, it doesn't matter in my case" I find this kinda sad.

 

 

Eamonn: Yeah, I drowned 'em all when they were small. Have to have standards, after all! Seriously, it isn't really sad. In the next two weeks, I'm going to see two of my old Eagle Scouts, one of whom is getting married. I get cards, email and occasional rumors that indicate I've left a bunch of kids of whom I'm very proud. The fact that none of them are biologically mine doesn't really make much difference.

 

One of the truly great things about Scouting.

[Eamonn]

Kahuna,

My Mum said she missed one when it came to the drownings!! I can't think what she was getting at?

I do hope that you enjoy the wedding.

I do a much better job of keeping in contact with the Lads I served now I have e-mail.

Her Who Must Be Obeyed at times tells me that I'm a bit like an old mother hen.

I was very young when I became a Scoutmaster,in many ways the Scouts and I grew up together.

Thanks to e-mail we now share pictures of people and dogs that we love. Even some of their parents get in on the act!!

Have to admit to not liking the e-mail cards and still spend a small fortune at the post office at Christmas.

Eamonn.

 

[Eamonn]

Kahuna,

My Mum said she missed one when it came to the drownings!! I can't think what she was getting at?

I do hope that you enjoy the wedding.

I do a much better job of keeping in contact with the Lads I served now I have e-mail.

Her Who Must Be Obeyed at times tells me that I'm a bit like an old mother hen.

I was very young when I became a Scoutmaster,in many ways the Scouts and I grew up together.

Thanks to e-mail we now share pictures of people and dogs that we love. Even some of their parents get in on the act!!

Have to admit to not liking the e-mail cards and still spend a small fortune at the post office at Christmas.

Eamonn.