Nothern Virginia Caterer and Social Media Washington DC – Teatime Delicacies, Inc.

Telephone from Bryant Pond, ME I LOVE this post, so here it goes again!!!!!

1. I took this photo with my Iphone.

2.  This phone is our actual family phone from my childhood.

Social Media.  It’s mind blowing.  I lived in one of the last areas of the United States that still had crank telephones, circa 1970’s into early 80’s.  Rural Maine, we had a summer home and the phone system was party line and crank phones.  Our phone number was 60-11, pronounced “six oh, ring one one”.  You “dialed” the number by one long ring followed by a short ring.  My grandmother lived next door, her number was 60-8 because she was on our party, the 60 party.  Her ring was 2 short rings followed by a long one.  You could pick up the phone at any time of the day and someone might be already on it talking.  You either listened in, or just hung up and tried later. 
When I later married and left the area, calling this number from out of state,let alone from the same state was a challenge.  You called the operator, told them you wanted to place a long distance call that was a ring down through Norway, Maine.  Generally there would be dead silence on the other end while they located a manager. The phone company was owned by a family in a small neighboring town.  When Ma Bell finally got her hands on it, the townsfolk wore t-shirts saying “Don’t Yank The Crank”. 

Today I can hold in my hand a device that not only shows Norway Maine on a map, can put that on hold and show me Oslo Norway.  While snapping a photo of an ancient phone and sending an email then texting that I am creating a blog about the phone on the computer next to an Ipad charging.  HUH?? 

This happened in my lifetime, and I’m not exactly one foot in the grave.  Yet, the freight train on the railroad track seems like it just left the station moments ago.  For me it recently feels like it’s impossible to stay on top of it all.  Blogging, Twitter, Email, Texting, Facebook, Pinterest.  That doesn’t even include picking up a phone and actually conducting a conversation.  Conversation?  What’s that??!!

So easy to get sucked into it all,  impossible to ignore.  In the wedding industry, it’s been both a blessing and a challenge.  It’s great that a bride or groom can find photos online of things they want to include in a wedding reception, finding a wedding cake photo from my www.pinterest.com/teatimeinc/ account allows people to look not only at my work, but to send me work they found on another site. Following our www.facebook.com/TeatimeDelicaciesInc link allows a new client to see what is current on our page and to comment.  And of course having one’s email account linked into an Iphone is crucial so that I might respond to any new inquiry within a few hours.  Likewise, during a wedding reception I am able to take any number of photos with the camera function and post them on FB or blog about them at a later date.  But to do everything?  For me, it’s impossible.  Nor do I want to.  I don’t want to be a slave to every social media siren on the horizon.  I want to work smartly, not frantically.  After all, what Teatime does best is prepare and serve great food. 

And maybe make contact with an old friend or family member.  By telephone.
www.teatimeinc.com