"Thank you for your service"

Nurses General Nursing

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When people find out I'm a nurse these days, they keep thanking me for my service, like they do to the military. I want to roll my eyes at this point. Is this happening to you?

Specializes in ER.
4 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Just the services mentioned so far, or just the "for your service" part specifically, or...?

Curious!

Just that, the British don't thank random nurses for being nurses, methinks...

 

4 Votes
7 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Just the services mentioned so far, or just the "for your service" part specifically, or...?

Curious!

I know you were asking Grumpy, but I’ll answer for my part of Europe although I suspect that the reply might apply for the rest of Europe as well. It’s the ”for your service” part. If you get a monthly paycheck it’s a job. It’s not viewed as doing something out of the ordinary. Sure, some jobs might involve more stressors than others, but most jobs have them in some shape or form. 

Most people would probably feel a bit embarrassed if some random stranger thanked them for their service. Service would be something that a person volunteers without getting any financial reward. 

7 Votes
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I used to feel embarassed being thanked for military and nursing "service" but I realize it's people being nice. So I simply say "you are more than welcome" and get on with it.

16 Votes
Specializes in Emergency Department.
3 hours ago, macawake said:

I know you were asking Grumpy, but I’ll answer for my part of Europe although I suspect that the reply might apply for the rest of Europe as well. It’s the ”for your service” part. If you get a monthly paycheck it’s a job. It’s not viewed as doing something out of the ordinary. Sure, some jobs might involve more stressors than others, but most jobs have them in some shape or form. 

Most people would probably feel a bit embarrassed if some random stranger thanked them for their service. Service would be something that a person volunteers without getting any financial reward. 

Thank you macawake, that is exactly what I meant, as you say a European thing.

I want to make it absolutely clear (and I'm sure macawake is the same), we do thank people for WHAT they have done for us but not for some random nebulous "thing" that they may or may not do/have done.

Over the last year people were going outside on Thursday night and applauding the NHS to "thank them". I tried to avoid it as, even though I am retired, it felt very self serving (should add, that I did go out). My wife on the other hand, who is still working as a nurse (with sick covid patients), went out and did it "for her colleagues." My wife was in a supermarket at the height (or the low) of the first lock-down at a time set aside for NHS workers and elderly and a cashier thanked her - she was very embarrassed as she did not feel she deserved that and also the cashier should have been the one being thanked.

6 Votes
37 minutes ago, GrumpyRN said:

I want to make it absolutely clear (and I'm sure macawake is the same), we do thank people for WHAT they have done for us but not for some random nebulous "thing" that they may or may not do/have done.

Thank you.  I had hoped that was the case and that's why I asked.

And thanks for the reply @macawake.

I don't need any thanks but at the same time there are people whose gratitude is genuine; this is known by their follow-up comments (as opposed to people who might say some rote thing because they believe it makes them sound good).

People express themselves in all sorts of different ways. For example, where I am I have noticed that people who thank others for their "service" are simply those who are not really emotionally expressive types--but they do have gratitude.

Hm. So I guess unless I have a good reason to believe the comment is insincere I wouldn't make too much of it or judge it too harshly.

10 Votes
Specializes in ICU.
3 hours ago, SmilingBluEyes said:

I used to feel embarassed being thanked for military and nursing "service" but I realize it's people being nice. So I simply say "you are more than welcome" and get on with it.

Same here! I have been thanked many times grabbing coffee on the way to national guard duty or in my scrubs before work. I get very embarrassed when others turn to look, I just don’t know what to do with that attention. I just try and smile and thank them for being kind. I know they mean well, but if they knew I was someone who is shy around those I don’t know, they’d probably leave me alone! 

8 Votes
4 hours ago, GrumpyRN said:

I want to make it absolutely clear (and I'm sure macawake is the same), we do thank people for WHAT they have done for us but not for some random nebulous "thing" that they may or may not do/have done.

Absolutely ?? I do appreciate when people express that what I’ve done has made a positive difference in their lives and I will definitely thank someone when they do something positive for me or for someone else. But that’s normally after we’ve actually had a professional relationship of some kind. The thank you for your service from a stranger would feel odd though. As a Scandinavian who really like their private space around them, it might even feel a bit intrusive and also generic, since they don’t really know me. I could be Nurse Ratched for all they know. But I recognize that the words are most likely coming from a place of kindness, so I would of course thank them. 

8 Votes

Another aspect of this is to not conflate large healthcare corporations' professions of gratitude and hero-talk with the gratitude expressed on the street by citizens. Two entirely different things.

13 Votes
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
27 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

Another aspect of this is to not conflate large healthcare corporations' professions of gratitude and hero-talk with the gratitude expressed on the street by citizens. Two entirely different things.

Excellent point.

5 Votes
Specializes in retired LTC.
1 hour ago, JKL33 said:

Another aspect of this is to not conflate large healthcare corporations' professions of gratitude and hero-talk with the gratitude expressed on the street by citizens. Two entirely different things.

My 'thank you's' are directed to individuals, not big businesses/employers. Even jobs being done for others, while not me directly, is deserving of recognition. For folk to go out and face the general public in the line of their job, deserves appreciation. 

I acknowledge that my comment is more like 'thank you for what you do during this crazy time'. Not quite 'thank you for your service', altho the intention is the same.

The sentiment is genuine. Please accept in the spirit in which it is rendered.

9 Votes
1 minute ago, amoLucia said:

The sentiment is genuine. Please accept in the spirit in which it is rendered.

We're on the same page.

7 Votes
Specializes in ER.

I guess I'll just start saying you're welcome when someone thanks me, and leave it at that.

7 Votes
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