Text or talk?

The other day I did a job on one of the many beautiful islands in the Swedish archipelago.

To get there, you have to take a ferry. And if you’re going by car, you need to book in advance to secure a spot. That part hadn’t been taken care of by the person who booked my job.

It wasn’t a big deal, though. I noticed it the evening before and booked a ticket myself. All good!

Since I knew the booker is fairly new to the job, I started writing a text: “Just wanted to let you know that…”

Then I stopped and decided to call her instead. She was grateful for the heads-up and said, just as I suspected, that she wasn’t aware of that routine.

All good! Again.

So, why call instead of just texting?

Because it’s so easy to misinterpret a short message — especially when it comes from someone you don’t know very well. Good intentions might just as easily be read as complaints.

We try to “set the tone” in a message, but let’s be honest — a short text doesn’t carry much tone. No matter how many emojis we throw in, it still can’t compete with the sound of someone’s voice.

— Hi, how are you?

Just by hearing those four words from someone calling, we pretty much know what to expect next. That’s how much weight, and lightness, a voice can carry.

I’d even go as far as to say there’s a tiny error in a well-known saying. But it’s an easy fix:

A picture is worth a thousand unspoken words.