How a Simple 'Thank You' Paid Off Big Time for a Woman Fired From Her Job

No one would have expected Lindy Schneider to say "thank you" as she was being laid off.

A new Chicken Soup for the Soul book has 101 stories of things to be thankful for.

The book, The Power of Gratitude was co-authored by Inside Edition host Deborah Norville.

Inside the inspiring read, there are stories of people who discovered the silver lining in a time of extreme difficulty and turned their lives around.

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One of the many stories featured in the book is from Lindy Schneider. She had been downsized out of a new job two months after she got there.

“I got a tap on my shoulder and it was my manager. He said: 'Stop what you're doing immediately and follow me to my office.' So, I knew the writing was on the wall,” she told Inside Edition.

She looked at the men who were firing her, noticing their weary and dejected faces, as they spoke and they were so weary and their faces so dejected she looked at them and said "thank you."

“My manager said: ‘You know that is the one thing I didn't expect to hear today, was 'thank you.'”

When she got home that evening, she noticed there was a voicemail. The message was from a recruiter who said she had been recommended for a position. The person who recommended her was the boss to who she had just thanked for firing her.

In another story from the book, we learn about the mother of Mickey Sherman.

Before Sherman launched his successful career as a lawyer, he was just a little boy growing up in Connecticut. His mother had been widowed, and desperately needed a heart operation when he was a child.

As far as Mrs. Sherman was concerned there was only one doctor in the world qualified to do the procedure she needed was world renowned and pioneering cardiologist Dr. Michael Debakey.

She reached out to Dr. Debakey and wrote a letter explaining her situation. "There may be many surgeons who can perform the operation. You are, I am certain, besieged with the same request by many people all over the world,” she wrote.

Incredibly she got a letter back. A letter from Dr. Debakey himself, who said, of course he would do the procedure and "I wouldn't dream of charging you."

Thanks to that procedure, Mrs. Sherman lived more than 30 years. Her son says he will forever be grateful for that gift of that free surgery.

One of the many stories comes from Jody Fuller, who as a teen had gotten into trouble with the law.

The judge said: “If you don't straighten out and change your ways, the next time you're going to be in some really serious trouble."

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He listened to the judge and ended up becoming an Army medic, where he treated some of the survivors of the 1993 Mogadishu disaster in Somalia, what became known as Black Hawk Down.

As he was moving up the ranks in the Army, he was also dealing with a pretty profound stutter. When he finally retired from the service he said: “Naturally, I became a standup comic.”

He is grateful for the judge, and is appreciative for the fact that he stutters and he's thankful for the opportunity he's had to wear the uniform of this country.

Click here to purchase a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude. 

Click here to download and read a PDF Excerpt of Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude. 

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