Saw this written on a license plate frame this weekend. The idea that just a smile can make someone's day has always bugged me. Smiling, or a stranger smiling at you, is not going to make your day any better if someone died or you lost your job and have been unemployed for a month and a half with no real prospects...*
Killer Smile: I has it.
I was endlessly annoyed while working as a cashier and middle aged men would ask me to smile as I rang up their purchases. Would smiling on command make my day better? Would it make standing in a booth for four hours scanning vitamins and pens and shampoo as fast as possible any better? Or would my smiling on command simply make these men happier?
A simple smile (though undoubtedly uplifting from that special someone or a hot guy at a coffee shop) is not going to make or break your day. Who has gone home at the end of the day and sobbed, wondering why no one smiled? Does this happen and I'm too caught up in, oh, living my life, to keep tabs on who is or isn't smiling? I was not trained "service with a smile" or "the customer is always right" where I cashiered. I did not offer a service to my customers, and no, ringing you up is not considered a "service." A waiters' smile is going to make your dining out experience better, and you'll tip him better for being friendly, but a cashier's smile is not going to affect your happiness with the product you purchased.
This being said, I'm not knocking people who try to live by those feel-good cutsie sayings if it makes them happier. To each his own and whatever rocks your socks and all that.
*I has a job now.
