Thanks.

An assistant coach for a team I used to cover emailed me after practically every story I did on the team thanking me for the coverage. I didn't realize until the end of the season when he asked me out (via email) that he had a thing for me and that's why he was glad I was out there all the time.

 

My mom won't even take my calls.

Tell her I won't be there for Thanksgiving, Tomas.

 

My first job was SE at a weekly where I was replacing a guy who'd been there a long time. He passed away shortly after, and I wrote a column on him for the next issue.

At the wake, his widow hugged me and thanked me for the article.

Not a lot since then, more the occasional 'Thanks for the coverage.'

I don't want to come off dick-ish, and I apologize what for what I fear will become a threadjack, but I don't get people who crave thanks in this profession. (That, btw, is not an attack on the poster who started this thread.) I have a colleague who is just obsessed with the lack of positive reinforcement he gets, from inside the building and out.
When I write a story, I'm doing my job. Why should I get thanked for it?

Any Scrubs fans here? Remember the episode with Jason Bateman as the patient who wouldn't thank J.D. for a good-catch diagnosis, which upset J.D.?

Bateman character: Why would I thank you for doing your job? I'm a garbage man. How many times a day do you think I get thanked for doing my job?
Turk: Six!
Bateman: You're off by about six.
Turk: 12!
Bateman: I'm beginning to see why my ostrich outsmarted you.

 

A few years ago I ran a photo that I took of two brothers with the last name Whitman, making a tackle together in a big game. I used the phrase "Whitman sampler" in the cutline. A few days later, the mom left a box of Whitman Sampler candies on my desk with a thank you note ... that was pretty neat...

 

OK, how weird is this: Two days after posting the above, I get -- out of the blue -- a phone call from the elderly lady in question. This 81-year-old darling was getting back to me belatedly, after I got back to her belatedly about her thank-you note. She just wanted to thank me again for my work and for responding to her note, which makes me really glad I didn't do so posthumously (for her).

Then she offered me her tickets to a local team's big game next week (!) in appreciation; she and her hubby have a schedule conflict. I told her I'd probably be there on a press credential, so she said, "Oh, there's a line of people at the YMCA that want them, but I thought of you first." All this from a reader I've never met face to face and someone who -- I love this! -- thinks the local newspaper has gotten as rat-infested as I think it has. She always considered my work an exception. Funny, me too.

Maybe she's a longtime lurker here.

 

I would imagine that features would get more than stories, and news features would get more than sports features. that was the way it was when I was a reporter. I worked at a small paper for about a year and received about 7 or 8 thank you notes/emails. And while those were really nice, I liked it when my articles started discussions or were brought up in selectmen meetings, etc.

 

That's a great Scrubs scene, Dr. Rotinaj.