What kind of things do you say thank you for?

I usually offer sincere thanks when I know the person went out of their way to do something for me. This could be anything as significant as an unexpected present to minor things like someone returning money when I give them incorrect change.

Actually… I think I always mean it and try very hard to make sure that the other person believes me…. even if I am putting the change in my purse.

All sorts of things. I tend to make eye contact a lot. I appreciate someone opening a door for me when I’m tired or carrying something or asking the bus driver to wait for me or helping me find something in a store even if they don’t work there. I mean “thank you” when I say it. For slightly lesser things I may say “hey, thanks”, but I still make eye contact.

I say thank you for just about everything. I do my best to make sure that the person understands that I am being honest. I don’t have a purse but if I am fiddling with my wallet I will take a moment to say thank you to the store clerk when they hand me my receipt or change.

I say thank you out in public for any courtesy I receive.

I guess I pretty much do the same in private.

I rarely fake a thank you. It’s too hard for me to do. My feelings are written all over my face, so there’s no point in lying.

If I get really good service, I make sure I let the person’s manager know what a good job they did. That could mean the difference in a promotion, pay increase, or, these days, job retention. I keep notecards at my desk, and will write thank you notes to people who’ve been especially helpful.

@daloon I agree, I am not great at faking things. So I do my best with the whole honesty thing.

I am a “thanks so much for your help” kind of guy.

I say thank you like I am saying thanks for all the rude people they may deal with. I kind of hope it helps.

So…at the risk of sounding rather odd…I actually find perverse joy in really genuinely thanking people all the time with a big smile and making them uncomfortable.

So I always thank waiters and cashiers and random people who hold doors open…they never EXPECT a huge grin and enthusiastic “Thank you” and generally kinda stammer or don’t say anything before I’ve left….I like doing that. I also hope that maybe for some people it will make their day better.

I always look someone in the face and say thank you when they do something for me – and I always mean it.

This is cool. I guess it is way more common than I have observed.

I was looking around lately, and it may be winter related, but every where I looked everyone was more about their change, their phones, their friends or their next errand than saying thanks.

i was at a show the other night and a skank/mosh pit formed around me as i was leaving the crowd. i kind of got trampled over (they didn’t mean to, i didn’t take any offense to it, but it was quite scary haha) and this guy just out of nowhere parts the pit and lifts me back onto my feet. i sincerely thanked him multiple times.

whenever someone saves my life goes out of their way for me, i make sure i give them as much thanks as i can.

Basically any time someone acknowledges my existence, I’m surprised and grateful. So I say thank you for pretty much everything and sincerely mean it.

I always make a point to say ‘Thank you”, smile, and make eye-contact when a server or especially server assistant re-fills my water glass at a restaurant. I think they’re generally under-appreciated (especially SAs), and I tend to drink my water really really fast, so if they’re good, they usually end up refilling it over and over again, and I want them to know that I really do appreciate it, I don’t take it for granted.

I say “thank you” for every courtesy that is done for me. I also say “thank you” as a courtesy to every customer at my job. I try to give better service than I receive.

@ vinifera7 – that is a great point. It is a 2 way street. Without the customer, no business.

This may be a partial threadjack, but I thank the air when I get out of the car and breathe it, and I thank the seaweed for its scent, and I thank the engine for starting, and I thank the dog for being glad to see me, and I thank the book for keeping me awake. I could go on.

@susanc
I doubt the air can appreciate your gratitude.

I thank everybody for everything. I genuinely mean it. It really bums me out if I hold the door for someone or go through a checkout and don’t get a thank you.

@Vinifera – MAYBE IT CAN. And even if it can’t, so what? It obviously makes susan feel good to be thankful.

@augustlan I taught my kids to always hold the door and it frequently annoys them when people don’t say thank you sp they sorta YELL… “You’re WELCOME” ! (smile)

@Vinifera7 gratefullness is something that some people practice to remind themselves not to take things for granted. The main point being that if you are dead, you can’t experience any of the things @susanc mentioned. Ultimately, you are reminding yourself that without all these things, you wouldn’t be alive, and that you are gratefull that you are alive.

Thanking people is easier, because there is feedback. In a kind of feedback loop, people can appreciate being appreciated, and the appreciated returns the appreciation to some degree. It’s a self-reinforcing loop. Some of us need more. We need to remind ourselves every day that life is a gift, and that we are thankful for that gift.

@daloon
My point is that one can be grateful without showing appreciation. It’s a completely vain effort to show appreciation to the air, and then boast about it to other people.

I don’t get it. How are you distinguishing between gratefullness and appreciation?

@Vinifera7

I don’t think Susanc was boasting.

Is it possible they were exercising a little poetic license?

Lets not go all “vulcan” on them.

Recently I’ve been thankful to a lot of people for helping me out. I don’t know if I’ve actually said “thanks” to all of them, but I’m sure I did the main ones.

And I say a little mental prayer every time I have a decent meal (not before it though, because you never know when the roof will cave in and fall on your plate of steaming soup).

@Jack79 You eat your soup on a plate? Must get messy!

@Vinifera7, I do see that “boasting” could describe what I was doing. I knew I was saying something a person could interpret as being off-topic.

Still, I was answering the question seriously. The non-human world is extremely generous.
It gives me a message, I give it one back: “thank you”. I know that might sound like I’m being all artisticky and looking for extra credit.
And I’m a rational person. But Stuff happens out there. Why not say hi and thanks and have a nice evening to it, as if you were in the grocery store? Where’s the harm?

Thanks for your remarks. And have a nice day.

Thanks you for keep me in trail.Perhaps there is something more like.For will or is it the humanity to thanks for?Perhaps..

I, like some of the Flutherites above, thank everyone for anything they do. I honestly mean it when I manifest gratitude towards another, for they didn’t have to do whatever it was they did, or be as kind about it as they were.

I think that, in a sense, every time we show “lurve” to other Flutherers we are saying thank you. It’s kind of like a little pat on the back of appreciation for either a question that tapped into our inner thoughts, or an answer that revealed an unprecedented insight.

when i make a purchase in a store, i usually thank the cashier when they hand me back my change (or receipt if i use credit card). if the cashier doesn’t reply sometimes i think why did i thank her, when she should be thanking me. after all, i am the customer giving the store my business. yesterday, when i got my change from the cashier, i made a conscious effort not to say anything, and see what the cashier would say. she said nothing, i said nothing as i put the cash in my wallet. it felt weird, but i was like fuck it, i’m not thanking her for me shopping in her store.

not sure if this was weird but i thought i’d mention it.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank Ben and Andrew for giving us Fluther.

Everything. It’s an obsessive habit.