“ Thank you for offering me words of encouragement. I would come to work with such a heavy heart, not knowing which direction to turn, and the stress I was carrying had me on the road to a mental breakdown. You lifted my spirits and motivated me to keep pushing and to keep my head up. I could never repay you for the encouragement and support you (offered) me in some of the darkest times of my life. I truly love you for that.”

“Thank you so much for calling back to check up on me. You don’t understand how much that one phone call and the little amount of words you said made a big difference. I really needed that, because my spirit has been drained lately. It’s not a work issue. It’s my finances. and it’s hard. I’m having faith that everything will be all right. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement, they really made a difference, because I was ready to break down.”

“The first time I met you and knew nothing about you, I sensed in you something special. Since we do not work in the same building, I don’t see you often or talk to you face to face, but the kind wonderful words in your emails from the past have helped me to keep going throughout the day. Thank you for your positive spirit and feedback. I know a lot of people here, so I try to make it a point to speak to everyone, even if I don’t know them, because most of the time I am headed downhill each hour of existing. The highlights of my day are lunch and the afternoon when my heart starts to race for 5 o’clock. Since we are in a recession, I know that I cannot go anywhere after working 21 years here. Having to deal with limitations placed on my area of excellence with no chance of promotion brings me to reality, after crossing the threshold of the front gates. As I walk these halls and look at these walls and ride the elevators, I do realize it takes some people time to warm up for simple conversation or just to simply speak, that should not be the case. I attribute it to the fact that they are probably not happy either. You are different maybe, because you have not been here baking in the oven long enough. You seem to walk into any space with a smile on your face along with a blanket of positive words surrounding your heart. I say this to make a point. We need more people to enter into the workforce with that right kind of attitude. My friends call it “The Right Kind of Stuff” to keep things like the morale going that had been spiraling down for too long. We need some in house cheerleaders with pom-poms. A pep squad, if you will. A staff or person available on site early in the morning every day that can truly be trusted, that we can confide in totally that will spin our negative thoughts and feelings into a 360-outlook and make us want to be more productive. Making appointments with the career planning people is okay and it makes the institute look good from the outside, but it is not the answer for the type of change that many of the older employees need on the inside of the building and the inside of their minds. Especially the ones like me that are 20 years or more into this thing called a career. Many of us have supervisors that are not in love with the idea of change, and they never let us try anything new. They listen to our ideas which they are trained to do, but they never really hear a word the employees are saying. They send us back to our offices, and nothing ever happens. So we, the employees, become like the commercial that shows the everyday routine. We come in, and we have the same old boring attitudes and schedule. We could probably pass out several medals of depression in this place. This could possibly change with new people and simple, uplifting new ideas. We need people that are not supervisors, that we can share our conversation with, that will motivate us and not make us afraid that we will receive a label on our backs. Thank you, Leslie, and please keep up the good work, and I hope you know that what you do is appreciated by some of the people around you daily here. I hope that others will take the time to see what I see in you. Have an Awesome day!”