Before we delve to far into this subject, let me say this, common courtesy isn’t quite so common anymore.Two words in the English lexicon that often times have a profound impact in our personal and professional lives without most of us realizing the significance of the event itself.
Those two words are: “Thank You”
Gratitude is a universal language, spoken differently but always understood. An equivalent can be found in virtually every language on the planet.
So for those international viewers reading this, I would like to say, Domo arigato, Danke schön, Dankie, Shukran, Doh je, Sas efharisto, Komapsumnida, Munchas gracias, Gratias, Dziekuje, Obrigado, Grazie, Hvala, Jag tackar, Dyakooyu, Spasibo, Nandri, Shukriya, Cám on, a dank, E se é, Ngiyabonga and Merci beaucoup.
How often have you been to a restaurant, a department store or even the gas station, completed a business transaction and walked away without even a simple thank you? More often than you realize.
Think about it, how does it affect you if you invite some friends out for dinner to a place that you recommend, treat them to a nice meal, graciously pay out with the waitress and she hands you your credit card receipt and walks away without saying anything?
If you’re not sure, I’m quite certain that despite the quality of the meal, I’m leaving with a bad taste in my mouth from a lack of common courtesy. Maybe I’m just old school and if that’s true, I’m going to cling to common courtesy until I’m the last person holding the door for others.
It’s the quintessential method that we use to communicate respectfully without doing a dissertation about our gratitude.
The absence of those 8 letters indicates a lack of respect on the part of the beneficiary of a service, a product or gesture.
About two years ago, I had some questions about fixing an old turntable, went to the site FixYa and posted my question. A day later, I found an answer to my question and man was I happy and I let the person with the answer know I was too. As a result of that great experience, I decided to reciprocate and answer some questions on things I was familiar with like someone had for me.
After posting more than 13 responses over the next 5 days, I was disheartened by the total lack of gratitude of the users asking the questions and quit posting responses. In total I received 3 acknowledgements and 2 people thanked me for helping them. That was about one third of the responses I left. I haven’t been back since and I doubt I’m alone for the very same reasons.
Some of you might be wondering if that isn’t due to the technological disconnect of sitting behind a computer and I would argue that it’s symptomatic of what’s occurring on a personal level as well. A simple acknowledgement or thank you for taking the time to answer their questions from the majority of people I responded to would most likely still have me posting responses.
Recently I had a young lady that spent extra time on the phone with me going over a bill that I received. There was some confusion with respect to charges that had been added without my permission, which turned out to be a billing mistake. After nearly 20 minutes of discussion, she thanked me sincerely for being so understanding.
A couple of days later, I received a corrected bill along with a handwritten note apologizing for the issue and again, thanking me for being so understanding. Her name was Kasey and while we have never met, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with her demeanor and the fact that she thanked me for being a loyal understanding customer!
Unfortunately, common courtesy is becoming a lost art and we’re getting used to it. So if you really want to stand out, then focus on the fundamentals of courtesy and respect that isn’t so common anymore. Kasey is doing that with great success and yes, I thanked her.
Thank you, those two highly coveted words are routinely taken for granted as we go about our daily business and are often times the difference between, “we’ll be back to do business with you again” or “they don’t appreciate our business.”
Oh and one more thing about those two words, how they are delivered is just as important as uttering the syllables.
Thank you for your indulgence.
I came across your blog by accident but after reading what you said about the two words "Thank You" I had to say that you are spot on mate! Simple courtesy goes a long long long way.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing more of this. All of us need to be reminded from time to time.