Business Cards

I hope everyone had a fun weekend. Mine was a little stressful Sunday when trying to fly back from Chicago to Boston. It's a little under a two hour drive to get from my parents' house to Midway Airport in Chicago. My mom dropped me off at Midway at 5 for 5:35 flight, which wouldn't be horrible, except the security line at Midway was brutal. I got in the "expert traveler" lane, thinking it would be faster, but they had that line merging with a priority line for the TSA agent to check IDs. It ended up taking 20 minutes of waiting in line just to show TSA my ID. If you're horrible at math, it's now 5:20, 15 minutes before my flight is scheduled to leave. After going through the line to get my x-ray picture taken, it was almost 5:30 so I shoved my belongings back into my pockets, grabbed my bags, and took off running. I didn't think I had time to put my belt and shoes back on, so I was running down Terminal A at Midway barefoot, with my belt and my shoes in my hand. Thankfully, they let me on the plane and I put my shoes and belt back on in the jet bridge. I hope it was at least comical to the other travelers.

Anyway, on to the point of this post. Over the break, I received 250 business cards in the mail that I had ordered. The cards just have my name, phone number, e-mail address, school, and degree/degree year on them. I ordered them because they were free and it seemed like something good to have; you know, just in case. Now my question is, what do I actually do with them? I suppose I could leave them with the interviewer on job interviews, but that will get rid of what, 2 or 3 cards? I guess you never know. What I'm really curious about is just handing them out for day-to-day things. Ladies, would it impress you more if a guy gave you his number by means of handing you a business card instead of having it scribbled on a napkin? Would you even notice the difference? These days most people ask for a phone number and then whip out their cell phone to program it in to their contacts instantly. Maybe a business card would be more convenient if you're worried about rejection or don't have time to put the number in your phone contacts at that moment. Perhaps it's simply a way to show someone that you're different. Like why Barney Stinson always suits up. To show that you're professional, classy, a cut above the rest. I guess you'll have to check back later to see if there's any continuing stories of the adventures of my business cards. If anyone cares.