5 Manly Ways to Give Thanks This Season
In less than a week, millions of Americans will gather round a table to eat dried turkey and lukewarm mashed potatoes in the spirit of giving thanks. A wonderful tradition, for sure, and certainly made better with the presence of three football games; but given the recent trend of commercialism creeping well into our Thursday routine, it’s safe to say the spirit of Thanksgiving may be losing some of its meaning. While Duke Cannon is in no position to fix this vaunted Holiday, we can recommend a few ways of giving thanks that are fun, inexpensive, and guaranteed to produce a bit of positivity this season.
LEAVE A RIDICULOUS TIP
After a night of consuming one too many glasses of Buffalo Trace, there is nothing better than heading to your local diner to indulge in the Sunrise Special. If you put down your pancake-speared fork long enough to survey your surroundings, however, you’ll likely notice you’re surrounded by a bunch of octogenarian regulars, many of whom believe that ‘keeping the change’ literally means just leaving the coins left over from their payment. To the hard-working servers who get up at 4AM to deal with complaints about cold toast, an $0.86 tip hardly qualifies as a ‘gratuity.’ So leave $10 or $20, or 100% of your bill. Probably not enough to have your receipt go viral, but certainly enough to send a message of thanks to someone working in a sometimes thankless position.
BUY A VETERAN A DRINK
Once or twice a year, Americans hop on social media and send out a well-intentioned message of thanks to our veterans and active duty military. (This is not a bad thing; we do it, too.) But it got us thinking, how many Viet Nam-era vets are trolling Facebook looking for funny cat pics and well wishes from strangers? Probably not that many. So, next time you’re in a bar (a real bar & not a Tapas Fusion Gastropub – but a bar that still has video golf), ask the barkeep who might have served and offer to pick up a drink or two. Normally, Duke Cannon doesn’t buy drinks for other folks he doesn’t know, but this is no stranger & you both love America and cold beer. As a bonus, this is bound to be pretty affordable. We don’t know too many Vets at the VFW drinking $12 mango martinis.
NAIL THE TOAST
Unless you’re leading a militia in 13th Century Scotland, the opportunity for an epic William Wallace-esque speech has probably passed you by. But you do have one Thanksgiving a year that offers the chance to rekindle the most gentlemanly of traditions: nailing the toast. And no, we’re not talking about “Dig in, y’all.” Instead, take some advice from our friends at Esquire and offer a sincere and pithy wish of good will toward your company or a topic that matters. And offering a high-level mention of what you’re thankful for (we suggest the people you’re with, for one) goes a long way to making that dry turkey go down a little easier.
DO SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK
Duke Cannon is a brand targeted to hard-working men, so imploring our customers to do more work is like telling a beaver to get off his ass and start building a dam or something. But animal metaphors aside, hear us out: if you live with a spouse and you have different ‘chores,’ surprise her by doing one of hers. Don’t talk about it; just do it. If you’re friends with a co-worker, and you have the ability to take on something that will allow them to jet an hour early for the weekend, do it. It shouldn’t be a significant investment in time or money, but the gesture will pay dividends far richer than current stock in Wells Fargo.
THANK A PARENT OR TWO
At this point of the year, we’re approaching a parent-appreciation solstice, the point at which we are furthest from the last or next Mother’s or Father’s Day. This is perhaps the least expected (and therefore, probably the best) time to pick up the phone (don’t email, dude) and say thank you to a parent or relative who helped you get to where you are. For some vintage-inspired extra credit, consider sending a ‘paper card’ using the nation’s ‘postal service.’
