The following is an excerpt from the latest Dave Ramsey newsletter I got. This thanksgiving I would like to give thanks for the people out there who give of themselves and often do net recieve anything in return. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Thank the Thankless Jobs
There are many roles and professions in our society that are terribly underappreciated. They could use an “atta boy” or “atta girl,” and this is the perfect season for praise. If you see them, thank them. If they are in a restaurant, pick up their tab. Report to their boss that they do a great job. Get creative.

Here are just a few examples of people who give a lot and get a little:

Janitor – Notice how the hallways in your office building or school are usually free of trash and dust? You go into the bathroom and everything is ready to go. And it’s all done by someone with a name tag. It’s one of the hardest labor jobs to be a janitor, yet he or she only gets recognized when something is messy. Change that.

Teacher – Sadly, kids are generally more disrespectful of teachers than they were even 20 years ago. If teacher pay went up as much as paperwork has and child discipline needs to, they wouldn’t need their pension funds. To boot, many parents think that teachers are the problem when kids bring home bad grades.

Garbage man – To paraphrase an old saying: Stop doing your job for a month, and have the garbage man stop doing his for a month. See whose absence is more noticed. If any of us did the work for a day, we’d appreciate our jobs a lot more.

Police and fire personnel – The police are usually noticed only when they’re giving you a ticket. Firefighters get the attention when you pull over on the side of the road to let them through. But they are both doing important work.

Military – After a person sees enough reports about the armed forces on the news, they tend to grow numb to it. But our men and women are still over there, doing their jobs just as much as ever. Don’t forget how we’re being kept safe by people that most of us will never meet.

Mom and Dad – This one may not seem like it belongs here, but we think so. When the kids come, it’s not just about you anymore. In fact, virtually nothing is about you. Most people wouldn’t have it any other way, but that doesn’t mean a pat on the back isn’t welcome. The food, shelter, band-aids and teething–it’s a lot of work. And that’s not even getting into those infamous teen years. Plus, parents lack something that everyone else on this list gets—a paycheck.”