Years ago as a young sales manager in a fortune 500 company I learned the value of small tokens of appreciation. Occasionally, I would buy a basket of fruit from the nearest supermarket on the way to work and place it on the reception desk with a thank you note to an employee for a job well done. The fruit would disappear and very little was said about it.
I had the opportunity to give an employee an award for a particular outstanding achievement. It was a check for $1,000.00 with a nice letter accompanying it. The employee accepted the award and said thank you and was getting ready to step off the stage when I handed him a basket of fruit. With tears in his eyes he turned to me and in a voice that everyone could hear said: “Thanks for the fruit, this means a lot to me. The money came from the company but I know that you went and got this basket of fruit just for me and that I really appreciate”.
That’s when I realized how important my fruit baskets had been all along!