Do You Say ‘Thank You’ Enough?

I have recently returned from the US where I flew with United Airlines. On our return flight there was a problem with our ticket. It was entirely our fault as there was a time discrepancy between out itinerary and the actual ticket! We arrived after our flight had left- mea culpa!

But thanks to the excellent guy on the check in desk it was no problem at all. He was calm and extremely helpful and got us on the plane we thought we were catching with the minimum of fuss and embarrassment. We thanked him profusely and he said, not at all, we had been lovely customers! Not only did he sort us out but he managed to compliment us in the process!

Remember Your Thank Yous!

I have just written to United Airlines thanking them for the excellent service we received, but I nearly forgot to do it. I was actually on Twitter talking about how good they had been when I realised I hadn’t actually told the airline! And it reminded me how much longer lasting our memory of bad experiences can be and how quick we are to share the negative stuff.

Which is not an argument for never complaining about bad service, but a reminder to acknowledge all the good experiences too.

Saying thank you sincerely and often matters. We all need to get some positive reinforcement when we do a job well, help someone, show kindness, whatever job we have and whatever status we are. Every parent knows the value of rewarding the behaviour we want to see more of in our children, and this principle holds true whatever age we are.

So, in that spirit,  who is deserving of your thanks today?