Business cards are effective

Dear Annie: While clearing out my desk and bookshelf, I came across a few business cards from folks I, at one time, thought I would definitely need or want to stay in contact with. But I haven’t thought about them since their cards got lost in the shuffle. This got me thinking: How important or valuable are business cards these days?

In my experience as a young professional, there are two things I know for certain about how things are done these days: It’s all about whom you know, and a lot of networking happens online, whether through LinkedIn or email. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy handing my card out to people I meet (especially a cute guy at a bar). It makes me feel confident and reputable. (Can you say “adulting”?) But is the move refreshing and oldschool, or is it a waste of paper?

Clever or Never? Dear Clever or Never: In an age of all-digital everything, I find business cards refreshingly old-school. They make a good impression that can help someone remember you even if he or she loses your card. And making an impression is what old-fashioned, technically-nolonger-necessary niceties are all about.

Dear Annie: I’m a pre-veterinary student. When I came back to campus this fall, my apartment complex was overrun with cats. I recognized one that belonged to a neighbor who graduated and moved out last May. I took the cat to an animal shelter that I worked with in the past. But the people there turned down the cat. They told me to just spay the cat and turn her loose.

The vet wanted $395 to spay her, which I couldn’t afford. My friends said euthanasia is murder, but none would help pay for spaying her. I couldn’t keep her because my lease doesn’t allow pets. And I couldn’t just set her loose, because she would inevitably end up having more kittens.

The only compassionate option left was euthanasia. It cost $50, much less than spaying her. After I took her to the vet, I lied to my friends and said I had dumped her in the country.

I want to beg college students everywhere not to get kittens. When summer comes, they just get dumped on the streets.

Ashamed in Idaho

Dear Ashamed: I, too, implore students to take animal adoption seriously.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.