Ah, Christmas, that wonderful time of year when we are all drawn closer together through the warmth of our friendships, a time to savor the joy of longtime relationships, a time to give thanks for the gifts of friendship that we have been given through the years.
Leave it to the internet to turn the warm feelings of grateful togetherness into something cold and impersonal. And then leave it to a law firm to put the season into the freezer in the garage.
Yesterday we received an electronic Christmas card from a law firm we’ve worked with for many years. Not a nice, quality, card in a hand-addressed envelope, a card signed by our human friends that we like to see face to face. No, it was one of those things that comes on the screen and invites you to click on the envelope flap to open. And so you click, and the envelope opens and out comes an electronic card with a nice drawing on the front. And the card opens and the computer prints out line by line the best wishes of the holiday season (neutral wording for all demographics) and a wonderful new year. Some music box generic holiday-spirited music plays as you wait for each line to become visible. Then the card closes and your mechanical greeting is ended.
A really moving, meaningful, deeply personal experience.
A few hours later we got another email.
From the law firm.
“(Company) would like to recall the message, ‘Holiday Greetings from (company).”
“NOTICE: This message (including any attachments) from (company name) may constitute an attorney-client communication and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL and/or ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please do not read, copy or forward this message. Please permanently delete all copies and any attachments and notify the sender immediately by sending an e-mail to (url listed). As part of our environmental efforts, the firm is (name of firm). Please consider the environment before printing this email.”
Honest to God, we really did get this. We couldn’t possibly make it up.
