travel books: So I wrote a letter to one of the world's most famous department stores, outlining the idea and presenting it to them. It was immediately adopted with appreciation, and now I have a big department store as a friend. Simple appreciation, for example, is one of the most acceptable forms of giving-away. I have found that authors, actors, lecturers, public servants-even the biggest of them-are hungry for genuine expressions of approval. We think of them as being smothered with appreciation, whereas all too often they live on crumbs. The manufactured publicity that is created to promote them does not warm their hearts. What they crave is the spontaneous human, friendly appreciation of the people they are trying to serve. The other day I was in a hotel dining room where an orchestra was playing. It was a good orchestra, offering well-chosen selections, well played. On the way out impulse prompted me to stop and say, "Gentlemen, I have thoroughly enjoyed your playing." For a second they looked almost startled. Then all of their faces broke into smiles and I left them beaming over their instruments. My own day went off better for it, too. Another discovery I have made is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something backprovided you are not trying to get something. Usually the return comes in some utterly unexpected form, and it is likely to be months or years later. For example, one Sunday morning the local post office delivered an important special-delivery letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office, and the post office had discharged its obligation by attempting to deliver it there. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post-office box for a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were no boxes left, that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard the conversation. "Wasn't it you who wrote us that letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?" books

Books > Old Books > Getting The Most Out Of Life (1948)

Page 117

TRY GIVING YOURSELF AWAY

So I wrote a letter to one of the world's most famous department stores, outlining the idea and presenting it to them. It was immediately adopted with appreciation, and now I have a big department store as a friend. Simple appreciation, for example, is one of the most acceptable forms of giving-away. I have found that authors, actors, lecturers, public servants-even the biggest of them-are hungry for genuine expressions of approval. We think of them as being smothered with appreciation, whereas all too often they live on crumbs. The manufactured publicity that is created to promote them does not warm their hearts. What they crave is the spontaneous human, friendly appreciation of the people they are trying to serve.
The other day I was in a hotel dining room where an orchestra was playing. It was a good orchestra, offering well-chosen selections, well played. On the way out impulse prompted me to stop and say, "Gentlemen, I have thoroughly enjoyed your playing." For a second they looked almost startled. Then all of their faces broke into smiles and I left them beaming over their instruments. My own day went off better for it, too.
Another discovery I have made is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something backprovided you are not trying to get something. Usually the return comes in some utterly unexpected form, and it is likely to be months or years later.
For example, one Sunday morning the local post office delivered an important special-delivery letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office, and the post office had discharged its obligation by attempting to deliver it there. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post-office box for a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were no boxes left, that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard the conversation. "Wasn't it you who wrote us that letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?"