Thank You, Thank Me

I have realized the enormous power of saying Thank You! And how, as an adult, thanking someone can not only be nice for the person you thank, but it can come back to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.



Sioux Falls newspaper, the Argus Leader, has the "Thank You Phone," which is a phone passed on around Sioux Falls from person to person as to say "Thank You". If you receive the phone, it will be from someone who is thanking you for something, and when you pass it on, you take a photo of yourself, then leave a voicemail saying who you are thanking and why, before presenting the phone to the person you are thanking.



A lady in our office, Debbie, passed the Thank You Phone onto the company I work for saying how she loves her co-workers... very sweet. I took the phone on behalf of the office, took a photo of Henry reaching for the phone, with Gemma in the background, and thanked Nikki, our daycare provider. She in turn passed the phone onto someone else. It was all very sweet at the time, about 3 weeks ago.



This week, the company I work for picked up the Thank You phone story and published it on the company website as a feel good story, bringing it to the forefront again. This made Debbie feel very happy for having thanked the company, and visibly brightened her day.



At the same time, on Monday, the Argus Leader published the picture of Henry and Gemma, that I took with the phone, on the front page of the "Voices" section, together with my quote thanking Nikki. Below it was Nikki's quote with pictures of her kids. When I did this originally, I did not know the picture would be in the paper. It is not the best picture, with Henry about to cry and reaching to try to grab the phone.

However, this created a great memory for the baby books, and again made me feel good about passing the phone on. It also meant that I spent my lunchtime running around Sioux Falls trying to find a couple of copies of the newspaper. It's amazing how at 1pm on a Monday, the Argus Leader was sold out in the 1st 2 gas stations I went to. I found 2 copies at my 3rd stop, and 1 final copy at another gas station.

In today's nasty economy, a lot of people are having a hard time. These little free bonuses can go a long way towards brightening up someone's day and putting a smile on their face.

Check out the Thank You phone pictures at http://www.argusleader.com/thankyouphone



Check out the story on http://www.argusleader.com/thankyouphone