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I've had to think about this for a while. It's always impossible for me to pick just one thing out of a list.
And I'm a little afraid of ego boosts. I can do an awful lot of that all on my own and have to spend time right-sizing my ego more often than I like. It can get in the way of an honest appraisal of myself and if my ego is inflated it's difficult for me to see what needs working on.
But I do like recognition and a little honor for a good effort. That is very precious to me and doesn't happen often.
In my desk drawer I keep a small stack of letters from former patients thanking me for my help. Should I ever have one of those self-questioning days when I wonder if I ever made any difference I get them out and read them. What a nice thing to have - that someone took time to let me know!
I think one of the most unique experiences I've had of this nature was a phone call from my sixth grade teacher who was completing her bucket list at the end of her life. She said she was calling the students who she remembered as a pleasant part of her teaching years, And she said the most wonderful and kind things about that little girl that I used to be.
It was truly touching. There's a theory that those children that we were are with us still and must be gentled and healed or they become a controlling piece of our adulthood that can be demanding and self-centered. If that is so the gift that teacher gave me, both in sixth grade and then again in my sixties, went a long way toward helping me to grow up.
I think the biggest ego boost I've had was when my job went to 12 hour shifts and I tried to quit the first time. My manager called me back to work the afternoon shift because they were so short. I was the only therapist and employee in the whole hospital that worked afternoons. Unfortunately, it soon turned into double shifts on nights or only 4 hour shifts. New management came in and the person under the president of the hospital asked me to teach all pf the nurses in the hospital how to use a specific piece of equipment on ventilator patients. I guess I got rave reviews and a note from the big wig thanking me and telling me how valuable I was to the hospital. My old direct manager left and the new manager told me that I had to pick a 12 hour shift. I said no thank you and walked. She was really upset and must have said ten times "Let me know if you change your mind." I worked crazy hours for over a year and I was just so burned out. It made my night when I'd be part of a team and the nurse I was working with that night would say I'm so glad it's you. A whole lot of the therapists I worked with were inept. I've never seen a bigger idiot factor at any other place I've worked. They were crippled because for many, that was the only place they've ever worked. My advantage was working at a big box boiler maker with the sickest of the sick and a smaller Mash hospital with only three or four therapist for the whole house. The stress level was unimaginable, but it made me a top notch therapist. Most places I've worked never recognize your accomplishments. They only talk to you when you've made a mistake. The tiny LTACH was like working in Mayberry. Sometimes I still miss it but not enough to deal with working 12 hour shifts.
I owned a business in my 20's that I sold. I worked hard, did well but I would assume the rumor mill built it up for way way more than I actually sold it for.
10 years later a guy approaches me and asks if I am the guy that used to own "_____." Not knowing him or why he was asking I said why would you ask?
Response- "man that guy made a ton of money and was really great at the business" and I thought you were him. I brushed it off and never told him that it was indeed me!
I asked someone from my old area if they knew who this person was asking and he was around back then but I honestly didn't know him. Just seemed odd a decade later to be still admiring me.
I've had 4 MAJOR jobs in my life.
Each of these 4 I was seeked out, requested and recommended for by management.
My current position I was requested to work with. If the requestor didn't get me, she claimed she would have quit.
I have never been hired for any job for which I applied... but, I have been heavily recruited for jobs that I held and have... kind of strange but such is life.
I applied for a lot of government jobs never got a one... go figure.
I prepare my own court cases and spend a lot of time on it... everything is bound with copies in triplicate, summarized, indexed with supporting documentation.
Several times the Judge has asked me if I have a legal background or even if I was a lawyer... quite an ego boost when your efforts are acknowledged in open court.
Part of the secret is to visit the court a beforehand to get a feel how the Judge runs his court... at least it has worked for me... plus I've been in the People's Court Studio Audience too... really
My Hospital must be Medicare and OSHPOD accredited every couple of years... recently completed survey and I was the only employee singled out by name for an outstanding job...
I'm not sure if this is the biggest, but it comes to mind.
I'm going to trying to simplify this story as much as possible and I'll try to be brief, I hate it when people post long winded stories. Way back early in my career/job I worked in a low level "assistant" role for lack of another way of saying it. In that role I had to do things for various people at times and there was this one guy I had to deal with a lot for a couple of years. Flash forward 15 years or so later I was working on a project that involved several differing contractors from various companies and this person I'm talking about he had moved on to a different company but due to the nature of our industry you tend to interact with various companies across a couple of disciplines.
So I happened to be in a leadership role on this project and had bumped into this person on this project. So we talk a bit and do the usual pleasantries and as we go to part ways he gets to the door and stops, turns around and calls back to me. I turn around and he says my name then says " You're doing really good."
It was like something you'd see in some kind of cheesy made for TV hallmark card moment but it really stayed with me and really meant something because he was a much older "been there done that" kind of guy and but his comment really carried some weight in my opinion.
I learned a lesson that day. I learned to always tell someone if you genuinely feel it that they are doing things well and to try and say something complimentary.
I'm a 46-year old gay guy and have lived in NYC for 30-years. I was walking through Chelsea about three weeks ago and saw Dustin Lance Black with his partner, Tom Daley, the British diving champion. As they walked by me, Daley checked me out. Like really. That made my day.
Oh that's so sweet,you must be going through so much with him.
This is the first top post I have ever seen on C-D. Why did you do it that way? It is sort of like a Jeopardy format, first the answer, then the question.
You don't happen to own a GMC Motorhome, do you?
Please do not let this become a trend.
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Way back early in my career/job I worked in a low level "assistant" role for lack of another way of saying it. In that role I had to do things for various people at times and there was this one guy I had to deal with a lot for a couple of years. Flash forward 15 years or so later I was working on a project that involved several differing contractors from various companies and this person I'm talking about he had moved on to a different company but due to the nature of our industry you tend to interact with various companies across a couple of disciplines. 
