a hello and a smile

This might be completely random and have tons of tangents, but this has been on my mind. So now it's getting put on here.

So I went to dinner on Sunday (which was fabulous, by the way. Thank you, Kellys). A tiny part of that wonderful conversation was about how we interact with other people and how it does wonders just to smile at people. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, especially when I'm at work. Because I constantly interact with people. A big part of my job is customer service. And I will freely admit, there are some days when I would love to shake some common sense into a couple of the EFY kids. (I don't - which I think is very big of me. I mean seriously, how is it possible that you lock yourself in your room? HA. I understand locking yourself out, but not in.)
But after working here for 2+ years, I can definitely tell a difference between the days when I bring my attitude to work with me, or leave it at home. The whole "fake it 'til you make it" saying is so true when it comes to customer service. You go to work. You are getting paid to help other people, to solve problems, to come up with creative unique ideas. Why would you want to bring the drama from last night into work to ruin the mood? I think I just want to be able to make a difference everyday. And if I can do that by cheerfully doing what I'm already supposed to be doing, maybe - just maybe - I'll make someone else's day better. (Go watch Pike Place Market if you want to see some good customer service. They don't have the whole video up, but you can get a smidgen of what they do. I want to go there just because they make it seem so fun. We show this to our new employees at work.)

And I think we all need to stop looking at people with judgemental eyes, me especially. A lot of times I automatically judge someone (Kinz you know what I'm talking about haha) even when I don't mean to. And I am please to say that I am often wrong - probably 95% of the time. I try to remember that whether I realize it or not, they have feelings too. It is amazing what can happen when you put yourself out there and talk to a complete stranger. The more I think about it, the more I realize that some of the greatest friends I have are the result of a smile and a simple hello. One of my favorite videos is about this. (Granted, it is a commercial, but just ignore that when you watch it.) I don't know why, but it just makes me happy.