Regrettably, I have not been doing as well as I would like with sending thank you notes over the last year or so. Some of you may be thinking up excuses for me in your mind like I am busy or have more important things to worry about, but I don't want to use excuses. Sending thank yous are important to me, yet I have not been giving them the attention they deserve. I feel terrible about many thank yous that should have been sent months ago for people who worked with me on church projects, some gift givers that have not been adequately thanked, etc.
I know there are etiquette rules about thank you notes- appropriate timing, wording suggestions, when you don't have to send them, etc. What is the etiquette for sending late thank yous? Is it better than sending no thank you? I don't know! I am sure I can find something about this on-line or in a book, but do I really want to go by someone else's rules -or what I think is important?
One of my dilemnas now is that we are going to be recruiting helpers for this year's Vacation Bible School soon, and the people that helped me last year are some of the people that I would have liked to send thank you notes to. Does it look like I am sucking up at the last minute to try to get them to say yes if I send a note now? Do I combine the two with a note saying how important they were last year and recruit at the same time?
One of Rob's coworkers really has it going on with thank you notes . . . and, to be honest, I am jealous! She was the only one (that I know of) that gave him a written thank you note for the Christmas gift he gave to all his employees. As a side note, the gifts he bought were with his/our money rather than from his work budget, so he signed all of the gifts with both of our names. Not only did this coworker write the thank you, she even addressed it to both of us. Just a week or so after the first thank you (which she sent in a very timely manner), she sent another thank you for something else he had done for her. I provide a picture here of her second thank you because not only was it super cute (see the cute danglies!) and include a personal note (not pictured) she added great notes on the envelope and top flap of the card. Very thoughtful and impressive; she gets an A+ in my book!
One last comment on thank you notes, I read The Last Lecture over Christmas break. (I highly recommned, by the way.) The author was also strongly in favor of thank you notes and had a good outlook about them, so make sure to pay special attention to that chapter when you read the book.
Well, that is all for now on thank you notes. I wish I knew where to go from here. It might be one of those things I just need to make the commitment to doing better again and start now without trying to catch up. (sigh)
1 comment:
Well.........You have many good points. I am good with thank you notes for others, but not family members! So to you and the fam. I apologize. It really shouldn't be that way and I/we are so grateful for all that is given of time/gifts/hugs etc. I am not good at the written word at all. Much better when I can talk to someone. Hmmmmmmmm.....my husband just the opposite. ANd...I have Caitlin and Hailey write them for gifts received from friends, but not so good with the family. Lots to work on here, but back to your dilemma....I think better late than never with a note of any kind. I too like to get thanked for a job well done. Maybe that should be one of my New year resolutions among the many I already have and this one is probably more doable than the rest. BTW.........thanks for the insight and thoughts. It got me thinking! :) And, thanks for everything over the years. :)
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