Thx!

I worked for a manager who had his issues - he was abrupt, impatient and directorial. But if you fulfilled a request, he always responded with "thx!"

Some folks may feel this simply acknowledges receipt of the work. Some have said it was a knee-jerk habit that held no meaning. Some grumbled that he could not be sooo busy that typing the extra letters in "thank you" was a chore. Regardless of the motivation (and I believe he was genuinely saying thanks), he said it.

It isn't a raise. It's not a big hug. It doesn't touch the extra hours it may have taken or how I juggled my schedule. It's certainly not a gift certificate for shoes. Heck, it's not even as a good as a handwritten post-it note. Yet, it has value.

He acknowledged that I contributed - every time.

In this current day of 10-12 hour work days, online language abbreviations, multi-tasking commutes and compressed sleep schedules, things slip. At the best of times, we can only present snapshots of our thinking to each other. In today's craziness, we're reduced to a few choice pixels.

Make 'thank you' one of them....with or without the extra letters.