RSVP

When sent a form of communication – be it an email, an SMS, an instant message, a written letter, a pigeon, a Morse code or smoke signals – it is always good manners to respond. Regardless of whether there was a direct question involved.

The same implies for when someone is addressing you with an issue of some sort. Maybe they want your opinion on something, maybe they are asking for your input, or maybe they simply want to share their experience with you. But in all cases, they expect that you will respond in some sort of way.

Otherwise, if you don’t even have the courtesy to nod in acknowledgement that you are registering what they’re saying, it is easy to misunderstand or rather, conclude (either rightly or wrongly), that the other person is simply not interested.

If you care enough, you find the means, the time, and the way to respond.

The French have even globalised a polite abbreviation for it – Répondez S’il Vous Plait (RSVP). OK, you might not really want to respond to something, but it is merely polite to simply acknowledge receipt of the communication and fire up a minimum five-word response. It takes up much more of your time trying to edit a photo to upload on social media, or scrolling through social networking sites.

It is a shame that in the so-called digital era all this technology has in fact made us so anti-social.

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The message was read. She knew it because there was that often inconvenient announcement at the bottom that informed you of when it was delivered and/or read. It was the source of all evil. Because if you didn’t know, you weren’t (so) concerned of why the recipient would not reply. But now that you knew, something was constantly bugging you all day. An entire conspiracy theory.

But what had truly happened was something that would never have even crossed her mind.

Jake woke up startled that morning, as the thunder alerted him that it would be a long and stormy day. He got up, still half-asleep, washed, dressed, ate breakfast as if on auto-pilot and joined the tens of other drivers going to work. But the slippery roads made everything more dangerous. And how was he to predict that the truck full of milk heading to a protest rally in front of him would break down, spilling liters of milk into the street and moreover, accidentally dropping an entire container full of milk onto his front car hood? He was stuck on the motorway for three hours until adequate assistance arrived.

That is when he saw her message.

“Goodmorning! Hope you are well! Have a lovely day!” It beamed full of sunshine. All that was precisely lacking from his day.

He was too agitated to respond at that moment, so he closed the app and put the phone away.

When he finally arrived at work, his desk was already piled with to-do notes and messages from phone calls he had to return. He even skipped lunch that day and managed to leave the office even after the cleaner. It was almost midnight.

He arrived home exhausted, fell on the coach and dropped into deep sleep.

Georgia on the other hand was steaming. It had been all day and he had not replied. A million scenarios had gone through her head. The things women make up and drive themselves crazy for a reason men do not and can not understand. Women can not understand it either, but they still do it anyhow.

She promised herself she would not send anything else or call him. She might even ignore his future texts and calls too.

The next morning when Jake awoke, the first thing that came to mind was that bright message he had forgotten to respond to the previous day.

“You are my ray of sunshine. I’ve had a terrible day yesterday and would love to see you soon,” he texted.

Georgia huffed when she heard the text alert. She was both curious and excited at the same time. But the minute she read it, she couldn’t help but smile. She was about to respond, when he called. She couldn’t hold a grudge. Not after that. She just wished he could have simply texted two words the previous day. Indeed how much agitation we would all avoid if people simply sent a reply to even the basic of messages.