typing is rude, I guess

[jadelennox]

DEAR MISS MANNERS: As usual, I am receiving a few Christmas cards that are coming custom-printed with such sentiments as “Merry Christmas from The Johnson Family,” or “Happy Holidays from The Andersons,” instead of being hand-signed.

While I have always found these cards to be somewhat impersonal, I am willing to accept the notion that some people feel a custom-printed card is “classy,” and I am especially willing to excuse them if they’ve taken the time to hand-address the envelope.

The straw that breaks my back is when the cards come from people who use a computer to create address labels, which is, to me, the height of impersonal.

I am writing for your permission to feel slightly insulted when I receive a card from someone whose annual Christmas-card-sending ritual doesn’t even include picking up a pen.

GENTLE READER: Permission denied. But if you want to reverse this, Miss Manners will approve. She admires a prettily hand-addressed envelope as much as anyone, but there is nothing classy about withholding a personal touch, and the place for that is in the card itself.

At UExpress

Comments

[ambyr]

Right? I usually try to write a personalized sentence on every card—“Hope the new puppy is settling in!” or “Congrats on your second-to-last college semester!” or whatever, something to indicate that I am aware and involved in their life events. If I can’t think of a single personal thing to say, that’s probably a sign I don’t need to be sending them a card. But it would never occur to me that there would be a value in hand-writing “Happy New Year” or other such impersonal sentiments that I’m sending to everyone. And for the address, the paramount important thing is that the postal service can read it!