I moved into a new place last week.

I think I set a record last Thursday when I went to Home Depot three times before noon one day.

I had no clue what I was doing or what I was buying, which led to several of the trips I made.

Regardless, I interacted with and got to know several of the employees last week. I worked with several of them in several different departments and each time I was greeted with a smile, and they seemed as concerned as I was about everything going on with my move.

I’m not sure if it was the elation of getting into a new house or the exhaustion of the whole process, but I suddenly felt very appreciative.

So when I made it back home after that third trip before noon, I called the manager. He answered the phone and lacked the cheerful demeanor most of the other employees greeted me with. I can’t say I blame him; I doubt many people call and ask for a manager to deliver good news.

But that’s exactly what I was doing. I told him how pleasant and helpful his staff had been, and how enjoyable they made my experience.

He perked up.

“I’ll be sure to share that with my team,” he said. “They’ll love to hear that.”

He was glad I called, and I’m hoping that message brightened some other people’s days too.

It was a good reminder how a thank you can mean a lot, especially in the workplace.

I can’t even begin to describe how excited I get when I get letters and emails at work thanking me for what I do.

I remember when I first started getting sweet handwritten letters, how I fought back the urge to write back handwritten thank yous to the handwritten thank yous I got.

OK, I did send one, but it was to an elementary school kid. I figured if I had any influence at all on that kid, I wanted to let her know how much a simple thank you is appreciated.

So to Home Depot, Cowboy Maloney’s, AT&T, my new temporary landlords Candace Logue and Gina Hendrix and everyone else who made what should have been an extremely stressful process so much easier, thank you. Thank you so much.