Isn’t it amazing these days, how one small smile or “Thank you” can really make your day. We seem to be living in a selfish world, where people generally don’t care too much about the small courtesies. We are too busy trying to get through the day sometimes to even say thank you.
People do their jobs to earn their pay, despite the environment or customers. People eat at restaurants and treat the waiters as if they are paid to be there, so there is no reason to appreciate them.
Supermarket checkout chicks…how many of them smile when they say, “Hi, how are you?” In fact, in many cases, how many of them actually LOOK at you when they say this?
My pet hate is when people don't bother to say a simple "Hi" at the beginning of a text message. How hard is that? It's like they show they don't really care, even before they begin... they just go straight to the point as if you are a machine... I am NOT a machine ;) I have feelings.
People seem to be forgetting the small things…
...and now the positive side ;)
Recently, I was at Brunettis (Italian café and patisserie) with a group of girls, and one of them said to me, “That waiter really likes you!” and I thought, despite the fact he was Italian, and they often pay attention to young girls, I thanked him every time he cleared our table. I didn’t think much of that. But my friend said he obviously appreciated being recognised.
On Saturday I was having lunch at a Noodle Box with David… there was a mum with her 2 teen girls sitting at the next table. They seemed pleasant people, and when they left, I noticed they cleared their table in an appreciative manner. They had a paper bag for prawn crackers, and placed all their rubbish in the bag, and stacked up their bowls.
Many people don’t bother doing that.
Then they thanked the staff as they walked out.
How often do men walk in front of a lady to get through a doorway first? I can’t count the number of times a man has expected me to wait for him to go first, or to even hold the door open! It’s sad.
I was at the Hairhouse Warehouse recently when the lady who served me hardly looked at me. She was too busy talking to other staff, or looking at what they were doing. She told me the price, and because she wasn’t looking at or even listening to me, it wasn’t until then that she was aware I had a discount card… the small things…
On Saturday night I went out to dinner at an Asian restaurant with my Filippino and Malaysian friends… I was the ‘white girl’ ;) and the service was wonderful! The waitress served us with a smile every time, she refilled our tea cups…she was just NICE. Smile, courtesy… she looked after us well. In the end we gave her a tip ;)
It just makes you more aware of how much impact the small things have on our days. A simple “thank you” or even just a smile at a stranger… you never know how much people appreciate being acknowledged and appreciated. The hardest area to acknowledge and act on this is of course...in our own homes... it's an effort but it's worth it.
Being nice doesn’t seem to be ‘normal’ any more…but it sure does make a difference in our world!
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