Saying thanks for luxury perk without sounding obsequious?

Question

I’m currently in my first full-time job and have been here for a year at a big UK company. Me and a few others from my site recently had the opportunity to attend an event where we were given free seats in a box owned by the director of the company as well as a free meal and free bar.

Given that I hadn’t actually done anything to earn such a reward (I just put my name down as interested) and the fact it probably cost a lot of money, I feel that it would be appropriate to send some sort of thank you email. However, I don’t want to come across as a kiss-ass or clutter the inbox of a busy director if it’s not appropriate.

If it matters, we met the director briefly for a few minutes but I’m not sure if he would remember me anyway.

Should I do this or not?

Answer 1

Don't go over the top, but a quick note of thanks wouldn't be kissing ass. Keep it short and simple.

Delete as appropriate:

Dear (Director's name)

I just wanted to say thanks for [sending me to/allowing me attend] [x event] last week. It was a brilliant [day/night/event/weekend] and we all really [enjoyed it/got a lot out of it].

Thanks again,

Adam44 (Or your real name, if you aren't called Adam44)

Don't mention the cost — your director already owns the box, so that cost him nothing and the meal and bar were probably offset against tax anyway so it's probably didn't cost much for the company or him personally. The cost also isn't the point as you aren't thanking him for spending money on you, you're thanking him for the opportunity or a nice event. Keep the focus on the experience, not the value.

Answer 2

I feel that it would be appropriate to send some sort of thank you email. However, I don’t want to come across as a kiss-ass or clutter the inbox of a busy director if it’s not appropriate.

Should I do this or not?

It's always appropriate to thank someone who did something nice for you. And a simple thank you email is just the right level of thanks in this case.

Something like "I just wanted to send a quick note thanking you for the seats at [the event]. We had a great time and really appreciate it." will come across as appreciative, yet not over the top.

I know when I have been the donor in the past, I always liked to hear that my gift was appreciated by the recipients. And I'm sure that encouraged me to continue giving.

Answer 3

One more thing: chances are the director's inbox is handled by their PA, whose job is to filter out things the director doesn't need to see.

If the PA thinks the director will appreciate the thanks, they'll pass it on. If not, they won't, and no harm is done. So, chances are the director will only see your message if the person who knows them best in the organisation thinks they'll be pleased to see it.

The PA will definitely see it, however, and they might remember you as someone courteous. This is no bad thing. In my experience, PAs:

• Tend to really appreciate good manners (since it's an important part of their job, and because they're often on the receiving end of bad manners from self-important people they have to be nice to)
• Tend to be remarkably good at remembering who everyone is
• Tend to be very useful people to know - they sometimes seem to be about the only people in the organisation who truly know how all the organisation's processes work and what is going on at all levels of the organisation
• Are important to get on well with if you're ambitious, since if you do ever need the director for anything, they'll be the ones making the call as to whether you can be trusted with the director's time

---

Keep it short and sweet - you don't want to waste the PA's time, either.

A very good tip for emails like this is to include all the main content concisely in the subject line, in such a way that it's obvious from the subject line alone that this is a polite email that doesn't need a response.

All the directors' PAs I've known have really appreciated little things like this. They're usually juggling at least 5 things at once, and it's the difference between seeing an email popup and thinking "Oh, that's nice, I don't need to do anything now but [director] will like that, I'll skim it later and mention it in our 2pm catchup", vs thinking of "Huh, what's this about, I'd better read it... Oh, that wasn't important".

So, for example, a subject line like "Thank you for providing us seats at [event]".

Snappy, simple, and they'll know immediately what (if anything) to do with it.

Answer 4

TLDR: A hand-written thank you note shows you are appreciatative and conscientious.

---

I want to preface this response with that you know your corporate culture better than us. So if you feel like your company would frown on these actions, then you should carefully consider how you will proceed.

That said, I agree with everyone else; however, one option is missing. In the interest of being complete, I recommend a hand-written thank you note. It is almost never inappropriate to give someone a hand-written note when he or she has done something nice for you. More importantly, the note (and it being hand-written) shows that you are appreciative and considerate (speaking as someone who is responsbile for giving away scholarships, I can tell you I always appreciate a hand-written note to an email, and an email to nothing).

I found that the following link has a good template for thank you notes--tailor it to your situation:

http://www.themorningnews.org/article/how-to-write-a-thank-you-note