A seemingly odd habit!

I have a habit - well one of many, actually! I thought it was one that most people had but I am beginning to wonder. It started about 25 years ago when I was working as a trainee manager for Curry's (a national chain of electrical retail stores). I discovered that if a customer sent to head office a letter mentioning you in a positive light you received a rich fruit cake (in a tin) on the next delivery lorry, along with a note of commendation. On the very few occasions when I received an unexpected 'thank you' bonus it really made my day.

As a result of this I developed a habit. Over the years my kids have poked fun at me often for it. My habit is that when I receive good service in a shop, from a company or even another department at work I try and remember to drop them a little note of thanks. This habit has had interesting results. A few years ago I bought a new CD player for my car at Halfords. A special tool was needed to remove the player fitted as standard. Rather than sell me the tool, a young salesman offered to remove the old radio for me using one of the shop's tools. It saved me a few pounds and did me a favour. When I got home I went on-line and sent a note of thanks to the Halfords Head Office, mentioning by name the young man who had helped. Later that day I visited the retail centre again and parked up near to Halfords. The young lad recognised my car and ran out to tell me that the message had been immediately forwarded to his branch manager and he had been presented with a large bottle of Whiskey! Whether that's better than a rich fruit cake depends on your personal tastes.
It's nice to receive a thank you. I'm not always good at it - and particularly bad when it comes to writing thank you cards for Christmas and birthday presents. My brother and sister in law put me to shame every year. A few days after each birthday or Christmas we receive lovely handwritten notes thanking us for gifts we gave them. They have even trained their children to be as thoughtful and each of my nephews and nieces send similar thank you cards. I should learn to be more thoughtful in showing my gratitude to family and friends for what they do for me.
This week Lyn and I returned from our summer holiday. We had a wonderful week in Crete - the sun shone gloriously every day, we relaxed and unwound in a setting that can only be described as idyllic. The hotel was wonderful, the flights ran on time and all for what we thought was a bargain price. I decided to drop the holiday company a note to say 'thanks'. What has happened since has rather surprised me. Within 24 hours of sending it I've had 2 e-mails and a personal telephone call from different staff at the travel company all thanking me for thanking them. They all commented that customers only ever write to complain - a word of thanks seemed so unusual.
Are we such a miserable lot that all we ever do is complain? I think that's kind of a shame, really, and it's made me more determined to try and show my gratitude more frequently.