The Power of “Thank You”

One of the best parts of the day is receiving the morning mail. In addition to all the business correspondence we anticipate, it is always so good to see correspondence from the families that we serve. When I read their notes, it is a great feeling to know that we accomplished our goal of serving our families when they acknowledge and single out our team members for their special talents.

There’s something special about receiving a handwritten note. It’s thoughtfulness, planning ahead, and taking time to acknowledge the acts of others in writing that produces a universal feeling of goodwill. We’re taught as youngsters to send thank-you notes to people who have done something special, like sent us a birthday gift.

When we are young, our parents help us with the words to express appreciation, or else the notes would be, “Dear Grandma, thank you for my toy. Love, Cody. Even when you’re five years old, it seems like it takes an hour to write that sentence, but the process of passing on a family tradition lasts forever.

The ritual of printing (as kids), then handwriting, our early notes starts us off on a lifetime of sharing heartfelt thanks for special moments and times shared with others. Some keep up that practice through adulthood. Others forget or just stop caring to send notes, I’ve noticed over the years. This of course makes us cherish the notes we receive even more as we consider the extra effort in bringing something special someone’s way

Through the years I’ve found that notes of encouragement last far beyond the date they are received. If you’re having a difficult day, opening one envelope that says “You were there for us” or “you treated us just like family” can turn your world around.

How often do you write notes? People remember who said, “thank you,” because often you might be the only one, of a large group, who does that. Time is, after, the most precious gift we can give another person.

When I was young, we did not have those preprinted cards where it was already written “Dear ________,” Thank you for the –––––––––––– for my birthday! I really appreciate your thinking of me as I turn ___ years old! Love, _________

There’s not exactly a lot of sentiment in that kind of preprinted card, to be sure, but the bottom line is that it’s a start, at least. The very least. No, I didn’t get to take advantage of that kind of card. My Mom still helped me with the first round of notes I was strongly encouraged to write. As I grew up, she might ask me if I’d written my notes yet, and sometimes I would have done it already. Other times I needed a reminder.

As I became an adult, I actually enjoyed writing personal notes to people who had done something special in my behalf. The reaction I received was so great to doing what is just naturally considered the polite thing to do. I guess a lot of people had gotten out of the habit of writing notes so the generation who was saying thank you was so shocked that people still wrote them anymore.

I was discussing this topic the other day with a colleague who noted that the Dear Annie column in The Eagle had featured this subject twice in the last few months. In both cases it was grandparents writing in to complain that for at least five years, in each case, they had been mailing Christmas and birthday presents to out-of-town grandchildren whom they rarely get to see in person. Not one grandchild (or their parents) had taken the opportunity to send one single thank-you. Their question to “Annie” was: “Should we keep sending presents?” Clearly the answer was: “NO.” What’s the point of anticipating a child’s glee at receiving something you spent time on thinking up something nice they might like, wrapping and mailing it, and then you hear…nothing.

Today, as adults, we tend to value time more importantly than we do when we are younger and think we have infinite years ahead of us and one of these days someone who helped you accomplish a goal might not be here any longer to say thanks to, so we sit down and compose a heartfelt note, even if it is just two or three lines, to say “Thank you.”

In business we depend on customers, vendors, and our relationships with both. We appreciate when someone can help us meet a deadline or project goal because what they did is integral to our success. Catching people “Doing things right” is a wonderful way to express appreciation in front of other coworkers so that the team member(s) who achieve important things can be appreciated by everyone.

Think about it. If you were one of the thousands of people at a recent OPAS event or at ChiliFest, you heard thunderous applause in both cases, with the audience expressing appreciation for the art they heard and saw. In reality, most of the crowds at ChiliFest were on their feet the whole time, but a standing ovation at OPAS conveys the greatest appreciation to the artists. They feel thanked when you stand up for them.

And, yet, in a typical office setting you simply don’t get a standing ovation for doing your job well. It’s expected. But, if you boss takes the time to write you a card and express that they noticed and appreciated what you did, it means the world. Hallmark has created a multimedia business over the years in the USA and in Canada, simply by saying “Thank you,” “I appreciate you,” “You’re my favorite coworker,” and “Good luck to you in your next job.”

After some research, I learned that the very first notes were written around the year 1400, by the Chinese and the Egyptians, both of whom wrote notes of friendship and good luck on papyrus. The Europeans extended the practice to an artform in sending “social notes” (or early greeting cards) that a servant would hand-deliver to the home of the persons receiving them. In 1775, our first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin, and in the 1850s the United States was introduced to greeting cards and thank-you notes.

The gentleman credited with introducing greeting cards and thank-you notes in America in 1856 was Louis Prang. Although a gentleman named John Calcott Horsley was first to “design a holiday card that Sir Henry Cole could send to his friends,” it is Boston resident Louis Prang “who made the first commercially printed holiday greeting cards.” Today we take these inventions for granted.

When you think of it, for 247 years, the postal service has been delivering our communications. Beyond the words on the paper, we have the handwriting of our ancestors to read, and reread, and cherish that are preserved by generations for people to see how the handwriting of their great-grandmother or great-grandfather was (often) so much better than ours is present day. Computer keyboards take time away from practicing handwriting skills; schoolteachers recognize that now more than ever and often handwriting is still taught and practiced in schools.

The next time someone does something extraordinary, for you or for others, consider taking a few minutes and don’t text them, don’t e-mail them, and actually sit down and write them a note. It might change their mood that day from sad to happy, and you’ll feel better too as you pass out joy along your day. Thank you so much for all the notes you send to me and to our team. We value our relationship with you.

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