As we prepare for World Gratitude Day, September 21st, I’d like to share an illustration of the power of saying Thank You.
I “bumped into” a friend of mine at the post office and I asked how she was doing. I obviously caught her at a bad moment because she was fuming. She told me of an experience she recently had with a local non-profit. A little background information: My friend is a talented graphic artist and she’s asked by many local charities and civic organizations to donate these skills and talents to their various projects—and she’s always more than happy to do so.
She told me of that for the non-profit she went above and beyond the call of duty in creating an advertising poster for an upcoming event of theirs. They couldn’t provide her with images so she traveled over two hours each way to take pictures and then spent more hours than she had counted on in her studio designing the poster, due to the many (!!) changes the non-profit requested.
It wasn’t making the many changes that annoyed my friend. She understands that civic organizations and charities are run by Boards of Trustees and committees and oftentimes it’s difficult and time-consuming to get them to come to a final decision.
My friend wasn’t upset with having to drive over two hours each way in order to have images for the poster. It turned out to be a pretty drive on country roads and she met several interesting people at the location.
It wasn’t the extra time she had to spend on the poster, time that she could have spent on paying clients’ projects.
What had her fuming was that no one from the non-profit said, “Thank you.”
Because of her not hearing those two little words—thank you—she will not help them again.
Wow.
This is definitely a cautionary tale for us!
By the way, the poster is beautiful and I know for a fact that the non-profit has received additional attention and positive feedback because of the poster.
The take-away for me is that you can ALWAYS find some aspect for which you can say thank you: the person’s time, their willingness to volunteer or give a donation, their efforts, their interest, etc..
Remember to say Thank You!
Your Friend and Pep Pal,
Lauren
Yes I Can Pep Talks 