Thanks for job well done

[pegkerr]

I sent off a copy of Swans with a letter to Jacob Reitan, a columnist for Lavender, the local gay periodical. He writes the column "Faith in Action," and I've been quite interested in his observations and thoughts about spiritual/religious issues in the gay community. He was certainly covering territory that I found myself exploring while writing Swans. So, geek-like, I sent him a mash note and my book saying, hey, I think your writing is cool. Bravo.

Tell me about an occasion when you've reached out to say, "Way to go, job well done" to a person you don't even know.

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

Er... well, I wrote you. :D

I also wrote Parents magazine after they printed a story last December about a baby found in a NY subway and becoming part of a family. And, oh yeah, his parents were two gay men. It was presented in such a low-key, matter-of-fact way, I had to applaud them.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I still have a copy of that note, too! It went straight into my atta-girl file.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I tell strangers on the street when they look gorgeous. Then I walk hastily away so they know I'm not hitting on them.

I've also written a few notes to reporters and bloggers who have done an especially fine job.

[elessidil.livejournal.com]

I still haven't had the guts to do that yet, but I'm going to, once I can get that letter to the mail:)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lindsay_/]

I called the police department to ask them to commend the officers who helped me when my car broke down. They were nice.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I tell parents who are doing a good job that they're doing a good job.

And acknowledge how hard it is to be a parent, let alone a good one.

...that seems rather inadequate, but that's all I can think of.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

I sent a thank you note to the local bus system. I had moved to a new town and was adjusting to getting around the city, and it was the first time I'd ever utilized a bus system, and EVERY driver was incredibly kind, patient, and helpful. I wanted to thank them, and let anyone in charge what a difference it makes to have friendly, courteous employees to everyone that encountered them on a daily basis.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful.

When the mayor of that little town in New York decided to hold gay weddings last year, I sent him an email letting him know how much I appreciated what he was doing.

Incidentally, at my job today, one of the students I tutor decided she wanted to read fairy tales, and so I gave her a bunch of different ones and she wound up choosing The Six Swans. During the course of our discussion about it afterwards I told her about The Wild Swans and the ways in which the fairytale had been updated. It was a really interesting conversation, and I think she enjoyed hearing about the book. :)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We toured a small museum-mansion on Saturday. A security guard spontaneously asked me if I'd like to use the elevator - it wouldn't have occurred to me that there was one - without making me feel obtrusive. While we were going up, his partner hurried up the stairs to open the elevator door for us at the top (it was manual). Both guards were also very helpful with questions and directions.

On our way out, we stopped at the visitor center. "The guards over at the mansion," I said to the volunteer on duty. She got an "oh, no" look in her eyes. "...they were unusally helpful and friendly. We really appreciated it."

She brightened up immediately. "Thank you so much. I'll pass that on to their boss." Yay.

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

When I worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer, one of the most surprising and wonderful things that happened to me was receiving letters of praise and thanks from people who'd read my articles/seen my photographs. Mostly they were from people I was writing the story about, but sometimes it was from someone who'd just happened to read the story and wanted to let me know what they thought of it.

It had never occurred to me that people would actually do that, write a letter to me to thank me for my work. I treasure every one of those letters, and have them all still. It made me feel so good, and made me want to do even better next time.

It's so great that you wrote that note and sent a copy of your book to that guy! I'm sure he'll treasure them. :-)

I've written letters of praise and thankfulness to a few favorite authors. Recently I wrote an email to Sarah Bird, feeling like a total geek, but doing it anyway... She'd written a really great article in October in my local newspaper about going door knocking to talk to people about voting for John Kerry, and I wanted to take the opportunity both to thank her for what she was doing and to thank her for her wonderful books.

While vacationing in Italy several years ago, I took postcards of my home state with me and carried them around every day so I could give them to people as thanks for being extra kind or helpful or cool in some way (an idea I'd read about in a travel book).

I found that it really was a great way to connect in a tiny way with people. One card, for example, I gave to the front desk manager of our hotel in Rome when I was checking out because he had been really nice and helpful to us during our stay. It surprised him, and he dropped the formal veneer a bit, enabling us to have a nice brief moment of connection, talking about our hometowns and travels and stuff.


I try to make it a point to say thank you to people I encounter during the day who are in the service industry, such as waiters, or grocery sackers...especially people who have looked me in the eye and smiled and said hi and did a really good job or helped me above and beyond the call of duty. I've worked in the service industry and know what a thankless job it can be and how you can be treated so anonymously and how a sincere thank you from a stranger can really lift your day.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I try to make it a point to say thank you to people I encounter during the day who are in the service industry, such as waiters, or grocery sackers...especially people who have looked me in the eye and smiled and said hi and did a really good job or helped me above and beyond the call of duty. I've worked in the service industry and know what a thankless job it can be and how you can be treated so anonymously and how a sincere thank you from a stranger can really lift your day.

I like to do this, too, but you know what's even more fun? Ask to speak to the manager, and tell him or hew what a great job the employee did. That makes the praise doubly sweet.

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

I like to do this, too, but you know what's even more fun? Ask to speak to the manager, and tell him or hew what a great job the employee did. That makes the praise doubly sweet.

Excellent advice, thank you. I shall endeavor to do this next time I'm in this situation. :-)