THANKS. A really neglected form of compensation

This is the entire contents of page 129 in the late Robert Townsend's masterpiece Up the Organization. I wrote a rave about this book awhile back, and I still find myself going back to it often.  Townsend was, among other things, CEO of Avis, and a complete character.

I was reminded of this page by a comment at HBR in response to my list of 12 Things Good Bosses Believe. Carmilla, who is a personal assistant to a busy surgeon, wrote that her boss had only thanked her once in five months, and ...