Are we rushing too much? Or is it just a bad attitude?
Some things I don't understand and never will. I have lived in this town for 30 years, shop and the same places, see the same people and no one greets me. A simple "Hi, how are you today" would be such a nice thing to hear. It's not just on occasion that they might be having a bad day, it's NEVER. I don't know if they're unhappy with their jobs, having problems at home or just rushing too much but it seems to me to be more negativity then anything.
A recent example is that about a year ago they opened a new restaurant on Main Street. It had a great menu and wonderful food! When I like a place, I'm a familiar face. Several months ago they hired someone new and she is always there. With a frown on. She is barely polite, NEVER smiles and just seems angry all the time. It got so bad that I stopped eating there and ordered the food to take home. Does her employer not notice this? And I have to wonder why she is so unhappy every day.
YOU choose your day. You can make it as miserable or as happy as you'd like it, even when you're faced with obstacles. It doesn't help to get upset that you're stuck in traffic and all the honking and yelling isn't going to make it go away. Put in a new CD and know you'll get home sometime. Things that are out of our control are simply that, out of our control. But we do have control over our emotions and actions---and that's an empowering thought.
I remember when my kids were little and I took them to the diner to eat. We got a rude, nasty waitress and she snapped at one of my kids, hurting his feelings. He wanted to leave and I wanted to see if I could turn the situation around (this was a challange but I was hoping for a lesson for him). I asked them both if we could try an "experiment" (WHY do kids like that word so much???) I told them I bet we could all make HER happy if WE were happy---(I know, I was pulling for a long shot on this one). When she came over we were overly pleasant and polite, smiled, I think I complimented her on something and we saw this woman's attitude start to change. Slowly, but she would come back to check, we would be nice to her and she did, she literally smiled when we left and thanked us! I remember this but it's funny, my kids were pretty young at the time and they remember this to this day.
It taught them (I hope) it's takes just as much effort to go through life happy or sad, miserable and depressed or trying to focus on the good (and there is always good, even if you have to dig for it sometimes). These people that I see day in and day out who never say hello, well, I don't bother trying much anymore and that is a shame. But they are choosing their day, and I'm choosing mine.
What kind of day do YOU want today?
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