At lunch the other day, I found out a friend's company (major global corporation) actually instructs people in new employee training sessions NOT to reply in email to thank others. In an effort to reduce the size of people's inboxes, the company has across the board eliminated thanks. Talk about SCROOGE.
As a bold move of quiet rebellion, my friend simply added "thank you" in her signature. Maybe she's the ghost of gratitude past... But now she thanks everyone!
Have we become so inundated with content in our culture that we find gratitude to be unnecessary and superfluous? An annoying task that should be omitted to save time? Sometimes the occasional thank you is my favorite email to receive. It makes all the other emails worthwhile. Gives a feeling of closure. Completeness. Meaning in life.
As in... "YES, we did it. I couldn't have done it without you. THANK YOU."
*sigh* A momentary memory of what business used to be. What our culture used to be. Now we just expect people to watch our Facebook newsfeed to see if we appreciated them. And if they don't notice us when we Twittered about how cool lunch was, then screw them. It's their fault they don't know we care.
We must strike back, folks! We must stop this madness of not thanking people before it spreads further. We must fight for the right to thank people for their hard work, dedication, patience, and good humor. Thanking people is an integral part of the pursuit of happiness afterall. Right? Don't you think??
So I say screw the rules. Don't listen to scrooges. Go forth and appreciate!
By the way, thanks for lunch...........
mc
