The Legacy of a Thank You Note

As the daughter of a military officer I was taught that it was important to say thank you to others for the service they provided. I am sure I was not like you growing up being a bit resistant to my parents on all the lessons they attempted to teach me. For some reason this particular lesson had a profound effect on me and it was something that I carried into adulthood with ease.

As a young adult I learned that I had to pay the bills or they would no longer work! I learned many lessons about paying the bills. You are probably wondering why I am talking about paying the bills as a legacy of a thank you note. Do not worry I will get to the point. It was a time in life when the news was talking about how the bill payments were being stolen from the mail boxes and to make sure that your payments did not look like there was a check inside the envelope. This was important to me because I could not afford to have people steal my money when I had so little of it.

Because of the news, I made a plan to put my checks in the envelope with a piece of paper that made it look like a letter was going out. The companies did not have the self address envelopes like they do today. I would wrap up my check into a piece of paper and handwrite the address to the bill collector and mail off my payments. This cycle would happen every month without fail.

At some point in this process I began to think that the paper I was putting in was just so plain. I remembered my teaching as a child to make sure to say thank you to the people who are of service to you. So I began writing in big letters on the paper I was wrapping my check in “Thank you For Taking My Payment”. I thought that just maybe that note would let people who were often in a thankless job know that I cared.

Over the years I continued this tradition. I would happily sit down and write my notes as I made a payment to the very people that were taking all my money. The electric company, the water company, the garbage company and the credit card company just to name a few. I took responsibility for using their services and had made a choice to say thank you.

It wasn’t until about six years ago that I understood the impact of what I was doing. I like many other people had gotten so busy in life with work, kids and activities that I was late at paying the bills. I remember coming home after being away facilitating seminars and getting a notice that said I had 24 hours to pay my water bill or they would turn it off. Wake up and smell the reality! Went right down to City Hall building to pay the bill! As I was waiting in line I looked around and was listening to the people who were yelling because they too had gotten the same notice that I did and they were trying to get out of paying that bill right now and of course it was the clerk’s fault that they got that notice. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that caught my attention. Right behind one of the clerks on their bulletin board was a note that said “Thank You For Taking My Payment”. I was amazed to see right there in public view a very simple piece of paper that I had written thanking this person for doing her job.

When it was finally my turn to pay the bill I went up and asked the clerk about the piece of paper that I recognized. She shared that the first time that payment was open they were surprised that someone had said thank you. She then shared that every month they receive this note they appreciated it so much that they began to pass them around to the different staff. Almost all the staff now had one of these notes on their bulletin boards. I was thrown back for a moment! Had what I been doing all these years really made that many people appreciate it? If this was how it was at this payment center could it be like that at other payment centers to. I had not realized or even thought that this would mean a lot to people. I said to the clerk “wow I did not know that by writing those notes that someday I would see them displayed on a bulletin board and have that kind of an impact.” She looked at me and asked if I could wait there a minute. I did and she came back with three people and said “this is the lady that sends the notes”. They each shared that they appreciated receiving them and they thanked me. They also shared that no one thanks them for taking their payments and more often than not that people are mad at them. One person shared that when they would get done dealing with someone who was rude and yelling at them they would look at the note and say at least one person cares.

A legacy happens when you consistently take small steps that improve the life or wellbeing of another. That is exactly what these thank you notes did. What will be your thank you note in life? What will you do that is small and may seem meaningless yet could potentially create an impact in the life of another? I mostly have my bills paid through auto payments now and do not send in the bills like I used to. However, I still look for ways to say thank you to the people who more often than not have a thankless job. Be it the grocery store bagger, the house keeping staff at the hotel I stay at and the list goes on. Find a way to make small steps in your life, create a ripple effect no matter how small and how it may seem like not much of a big deal! I learned a very valuable lesson the day my service was almost shut off. For me it was worth it to have written those notes for all of those years without realizing the impact and the legacy it would create. A hand written thank you note can make a difference. Go make your difference.