nwasianweekly.com
Nov. 24, 2007

Thanks for being a friendly voice

In the old days, people dealt with each other face to face. If you wanted to mail a package, you went to the post office. If you wanted to buy a tomato, you went to the market. If you wanted to buy a car, you haggled with a salesman.

Now, you can print a mailing label off the post office’s Web site, have produce delivered to your doorstep and shop for a car online.
Paradoxically, as human contact decreases, the number of interactions we have increases. It’s not uncommon to receive and send a hundred e-mails in a single day, to a hundred different people, or to make a dozen phone calls, and be transferred during every one of those calls.

This impersonal mode of interaction can inevitably lead to brusqueness and disregard. I’ll never meet this person, I have no idea what they’re like, they’re just there as a means to an end.

But sometimes, even a disembodied voice on the other end of the line can really make or break your day. Once in a while, someone goes out of their way for you, takes the extra time to explain or is cheerful even in the face of frustration and annoyance. Such people’s cheer and humor reminds you to slow down, gain some perspective, and you hang up the phone better than when the call began.

Sometimes the other person will be responsible for saving your life, as in the case of a 911 operator, or maybe they just do you a small favor like waiving a service fee. At any rate, it’s important to realize that these are the choices of actual people, not automated drones.

This Thanksgiving, as you give thanks for all the prominent people in your life — your family, your friends, your colleagues — take a moment to thank the people you’ve never met, yet depend on. Take that moment to think about the people who deeply affect the quality of your life, even though they might never quite make an actual appearance in it.

And don’t forget to thank them directly the next time you speak to them! “Thank you” are two simple, yet magical, words.

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