Dropped by my local Dailys for a pumpkin something for Paige. I started chatting with the gal there, to see if she could help me. When I expressed my disappointment on Paige's behalf that there was nothing, this sweet girl gave me a free iced latte and a HUGE bag of pumpkin spice creamers to compensate for not having anything yet, complete with this adorable pumpkin drawing on the bag! Recounting this episode to Paige because I thought she'd find it funny, and she said, "How do you have a way of bringing out the human in all service workers?" What a fascinating observation! It neve once occurred to me that I was trying to "bring out the human" in people when I find some point of connection, which is what I try and do with pretty much everyone I meet. I'm not trying to make this about me here, but I wanted to recount that story for context so that you understand my question..... How do YOU bring out the human in people? I would genuinely, honestly love to know.
First I SMILE at them. People in retail have more than their share of grumps, grouches and just plain dismissive people who think it is beneath them to treat people serving them as equally human as they themselves are. Next I say something as simple as how are you today? And even if I sound a little weird I either say something nice about their appearance, name or even the job they are doing. If you really think about it you can come up with something related in your life that at least partially connects to what they are doing, put yourself in their place and treat them the way you would want to be treated. If you have kids, siblings or even done any babysitting you can relate to a cashier at a store, they have to take care of people who are hungry and grumpy, have a pain somewhere and are grumpy, need a nap and are grumpy, need to go to the bathroom and are grumpy, etc. Just about every store or eatery we go to we are remembered and get extra good service because they know we like them. And at eateries we tip well!!!
In Ireland no matter who you are you always have a common topic, the weather. So to bring out the human in someone just complain about the rain or marvel at how the sun is splitting the stones.
Good humour and politeness win every time. Though I will say that when we moved here it was a bit of a culture shock. We moved from a part of the world where the snappy come back was part of everyone's life. Many of the best comedians in Britain came from that part of the world and Merseyside is renowned for it. Here when I said something to a person on the till it was met with a blank stare most of the time, a bit disconcerting when you are used to the good natured banter of a Scouser. I always used to teach the children that a smile and a please and thank you got one far more than a scowl and no manners.
I agree, kindness and friendly-ness go a long way At one time we had a local restaurant that we ate at very frequently. They were always so nice to us. Later, I worked with a woman whose son happened to work at this very restaurant. She told me that they used to fight to see who got to wait on us because they all liked us so much. That about melted my heart somewhere I read a thing that said to be nice to people because we are all fighting some kind of battle and we don't know what that other person is dealing with I think that is true and good to keep in mind.
