The Two Most Important Words?

I recently visited my brother in Ontario. The night before I arrived, he and his wife had hosted 24 people at his home for dinner. Bob is a partner in a small accounting firm in eastern Ontario. His firm has three regional offices and he runs one with about 7 staff members.

His office environment is hard working, friendly, collegial - a typical "small town" business.

The reason for the party was to celebrate the career of a woman, who was retiring after 38 years. She joined the firm in her early twenties and had seen the company letterhead change five times as partners came and went. And she's not alone. A couple of other staffers have been there forty years.

It seems to me that when you're an any relationship for that long, you and your employer must be doing something right.

And so it was against this backdrop that the party was held - a celebration of almost four decades of working together. The wine and beer flowed, shish-kabobs sizzled on the BBQ, and the evening was capped with a huge cake and presents.

But as the evening drew to a close and all the guests drifted home, Bob felt something was missing.

And then it hit him.

The guest of honor had left the party without ever saying perhaps the two most important words; "Thank you".

As a small business owner, the $1200 party came out of Bob's pocket. His co-workers (including all the firm's partners, past and present) made the effort to show up and contribute to her expensive retirement gifts. The company in effect, said a big "Thank you" to her.

But the sentiment was left unrequited.

Perhaps she assumed that people knew she was grateful. Perhaps she felt deserving of the honor. But she never said the words. And she won't get the chance to tell everyone tomorrow at the office.

After a career of 38 years, that's all people are talking about.

The moral of the story? Never miss a chance to thank someone. It's a huge gesture that costs very little. Once you've missed the opportunity, it's gone forever. You can't get it back.

And in this case, the absence of those two little words defined a 38 year legacy.