When I was a teenager, I worked as a checker at a grocery store. This was back in the days of old klunker registers, before scanners and UPC codes, when there was a lot more to learn in order to do the job. We had to know what was taxable and what wasn’t, what department every item was sold in, and even memorize all the produce types and codes - no stickers to tell us what things were.
As I struggled my first few days to learn, I noticed as I worked how few of my customers seemed happy. Some were sad, some mad, most just seemed disconnected somehow. It struck me too how a little friendliness seemed to bring them out of their trance, if only for a little while. I decided to make it my goal to get every person to smile before they left my check out line.
I learned in the process that different things worked for different people. I learned to be the fastest and most accurate checker for those who smiled in appreciation of a job well done. I learned jokes for those who just needed a little pick me up. I learned stories for those who had just forgotten the beauty in life and people for a few minutes. Mostly, I learned to smile. I left my own troubles at home and shared with each and every customer a little warmth, some compassion, the understanding that they had a long day and just wanted to get home, and a genuine, heartfelt smile. My nickname became Bubbles.
I loved the challenge of making people smile, of stepping into their lives for just a minute to understand their world, of suspending my judgment of their sour faces or unhappy eyes and feeling compassion for the challenges of being human that we all face, of giving them fast and accurate service and in my own small way making their world a little better.
In the nineteen years since, I’ve continued the challenge to myself to bring a smile to every person who’s path I cross – toll booth attendants, bank tellers clerks, waitresses, and, of course, cahiers. I’ve raised my son in this tradition, and it has become a game for us. (BTW, McDonald’s drive-through-window cashiers are the hardest!) When we pass someone who we can’t make smile with our silly, bubbly enthusiasm, we simply declare “happy-happy-joy-joy” in harmony together, take a moment to feel compassion for their inability to feel happiness in that moment, and go on to the next unsuspecting soul. Sometimes we play waving games – walking down the street and waving at every car that passes (you should try it sometime – it is great to see the different reactions of different people). One of my favorite memories is the day we stood on the street corner on one of those beautiful fall days that could make an atheist believe in God holding a sign that said, “It’s a Beautiful Day! Honk if you’re Happy!!” Honk they did. One guy pulled into the parking lot behind us and laid on the horn for two full minutes! We stayed there all afternoon, sharing smiles.
In my heart, I’ve always believed that these smiles made a difference in this world; that somehow, like ripples in a pond, a little smile passes ever outward; that the person I gave a smile to will give a smile to someone else who will pass it on, and so it goes.
Sometimes in my mind though, I wonder if I’m just a fool; if smiles don’t really matter that much; if I should focus more on making money and less on sharing my spirit with this world; if I’ve raised my son to see too much laughter and light and not prepared him for the darkness in this world. I wonder if all that I believe in my soul, but can’t know with my mind, is just wishful thinking. After all, why would some silly, stupid smile from a complete stranger make a difference to anyone? And how would I ever even know if it did?
My phone rang the other day. I didn’t know the man’s voice. He said he was calling from Papa John’s. Then he said these words to me: “I just wanted to call to tell you thank you. I was having a really bad day yesterday. I’d been delivering pizzas all afternoon in the rain. Everyone had been so rude and grumpy. Then I came to your house. You and your son were so nice to me, you smiled at me, and made me feel really good inside. It made my night, and I just wanted to tell you thank you.”
I told him, no, it was me who should thank him. The fact that he took the time to tell me I had made a difference in his life, made a tremendous difference in mine.
I didn’t think to ask his name. Perhaps it is just as well, for now I will always know the smiles I give to the people I pass, whether I know their names or not, whether I will ever see them again or not, whether they will ever tell me or not, do indeed make a difference.
A smile brightens a person’s world, even if only for a second. If you brighten the world of people around you, you can’t help but brighten your own.
This is a very true story. If you enjoyed it, smile and pass it on. :-)
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