I once read that in Japanese, all the words for ‘thank you’ translate more literally as ‘resentment’. This appealed to my cynical, 20-year-old self–it’s a way to acknowledge a debt we didn’t ask for, like someone holding the door for us.
More powerful is to recognize that our gratitude is the payment, whether for someone holding the door for us, or each sunrise we get to see, for each moment we get to spend with our loved ones.