how a thank you can change the world

hello!
salam ramadan!

i was fuming a couple of weeks back because i couldnt contact *this* airline about my flight date, then again when a certain bank i had been trying to get a card from failed to send the completed request form to the HQ a week after i sent it to them, despite me being clear about needing it soon before i go back to the UK. so yes, ive been reminded a couple of times about how my country is a developing country which still needs improvements in providing services.

the thing that really frustrates me is inefficiency. i'd like to think of myself as responsible in that if i'm entrusted with a job, i strive my best to see it through. i'm an all or nothing sort of person, if i think i wont be able to commit to something, i just dont take on the job. so it really frustrates me when i see a half-a$$ed job being done.

and then my mom told me about this one time when she received a great assistance from another bank, and she was so impressed by the service, she wrote a personal letter to the superior to thank and recognise the worker-in-charge. this person called my mom later to thank her after he got a special mention from his boss during an important meeting, and it had made his day, if not helped his career.

given the opportunity to study in the UK, i've had 4 years of appreciating the work attitude here, and i can't help but sometimes wonder about how this is achieved and how is it different from malaysia. how do you change a nation's mentality? the thing i realised it, we are sometimes great at criticising something, but we might not be so great at giving a compliment when it's due. i may even go so far to say that a large part of why and how we do things is through fear. it's everywhere in the system, since we were little malaysian kids: potong kuku kalau tak cikgu pukul tangan! memorise this book if you dont wanna fail SPM! go to work if you dont wanna get fired!

now fear is perhaps a strong cause but it's not a great motivater. what it does is it creates a bunch of people who do something not because they desire to, but because they fear of retribution. much like people in prison, we are imprisoned by school or work, desperate to find sneaky ways of getting out without facing punishment. why do you think the act of buying sick certificates even exists here? we undermine the power of positive reinforcement. so whose job is it to create a working / learning environment that is actually welcoming and not hostile? well, why dont we start with ourselves? all of us here have a chance to, be it as consumers or parents or teachers or leaders or coaches, we all have a chance to i'm sure. after all, how hard is it to make your appreciation known when you mean it?

how hard is it to say thank you? :)