This one stressed me out for a few minutes today. I was getting ready to leave the office for the day and hadn't completed this challenge and knew I probably wouldn't interact with anyone I know for the rest of the night (Minus the cat but I don't know he'd appreciate a note). All of a sudden I had an epiphany: my paralegal! And now you see why I had to confess to being a lawyer.
Her birthday was a few weeks ago and because of scheduling, myself and the other attorneys for whom she works had been unable to get together to take her to lunch. Today was the day. I had told her weeks ago when we first tried to schedule this that it was her choice of place. I didn't get back from court until nearly 1pm and as we walked in the door at her chosen restaurant, a 20-minute wait for a table happened. We had to decide on somewhere else to go.
As we sat there I realized that the conversation was being dominated by the other attorney (a bit of a chatterbox) and myself about work stuff. Our guest of honor chimed in occasionally but mostly ate her lunch quietly. I should note she is generally a quiet person. As we were paying the bill, she thanked us for lunch. As we were walking back to the office, she thanked us for lunch. She stuck her head in my office later and not only thanked me AGAIN for lunch but also apologized for not contributing more to the conversation. It took me another hour to realize that she should be the recipient of today's note.
I am a strong believer in the idea that common courtesy is sorely lacking in this world. Most people are too wrapped up in themselves and their much more important problems to be bothered with anyone else. Some people run into you on the street and glare at you like it's your fault. I turn to writing notes and vandalism. Anyway, such gratitude and the expression of it doesn't happen often and thus, I felt, deserved recognition.
Her note read "What I Like About You: That you make an effort to express your gratitude to others." She had to read it twice because at first thought I was giving her a task to complete. When she finished she responded with a smile and something along the lines of "Aww, thank you, that's so nice."
As it happened, the girl who got yesterday's note was standing there and as I was being looked at quizzically by both, I briefly explained what I was doing. This time it didn't feel forced or awkward but a natural progression of Give note --> Explain why --> Everyone go back to life as it was. This time I got a little more of a thrill having shared her pleased reaction with her.
What I realized as I reflected on my drive home was that I had been going over in my head the interactions I had had with people all day. I was looking for something someone had done for me that I thought deserved a thank you. I'm obviously still struggling with the focus of this challenge. This shouldn't be about someone doing something for me. I don't want it to be about me at all. I wonder though if I can remove myself entirely from the equation when I am the one making the decision as to who gets a note each day. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.
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