The Power of Thank You

In my opinion the phase "Thank You" is not used enough.  It's simple enough to say and yet I hear it less and less.  Perhaps I am getting old.  (Ok, I know I am getting old.)  I was taught "old fashioned" manners by my parents (and I'm trying to teach my son the same).  It was drilled into me.  You say thank you.  You write (or now email) thank you notes.  It's polite and it's the right thing to do.

Yesterday, as you know if you've been keeping up with this blog, was our town council election. While I made an informed decision on who I voted for, one of the reasons I voted for one of the candidates was simple; he thanked me. 

It started off with a neighbor asking me to sign a petition to have this candidate put on the ballot.  At that time I knew a little about the candidate and putting my name on a petition didn't mean I was going to vote for him; it just meant that I thought he was worth being considered.  A few weeks later, I received a HAND WRITTEN thank you note from this candidate.  In my eyes, this put him miles ahead of anyone else running for council.  And when I met him face to face, I told him how much it impressed me.  His answer was that if I took the time to sign a petition for him, he should take the time to thank me.

Did I vote for this person solely because he sent me a thank you note?  No.  But to me, his thank you showed me what kind of person he was.  Saying thank you is a powerful tool.

On the flip side, I currently volunteer on a committee that is seeking to hire someone for a paid position.  This committee has been seeking the right person for a long time and we've interviewed several candidate.  One of the most disappointing things that have come out of this process is the lack of a thank you notes.  When I was interviewing for a position, I always followed up with a thank you note.  (And to show you how old I am; I am of the age where you "snail" mailed a note.)  I was shocked when our committee did NOT get thank you notes from several of our candidates.  To me it shows lack of interest and lack of caring.  And in this age of technology, it's certainly easy enough to type up a quick "Thank you for meeting with me" and then just hit a button and it's gone!  

Again, I may be "old" or "old fashioned," but a thank you goes a long way in my book.  I've tried to instill that in my son as well.  (That hasn't always worked out as well as I would have liked, but that's a whole other blog post!)  Saying thank you never hurts anyone; and it can only help.  There is a lot of power behind a simple "Thank you."