I like good service. If you’re going to work under the hood of my car and I never have to see your face then I don’t care if you whistle a tune or swear like a sailor. However, if we have to talk face to face I want a smile and a good attitude.

I”m a straight shooter. Which is just a polite way of saying I talk plain, some might say blunt. But I wanted better service, so, I took it upon myself to find a way to illicit more pleasant service from the grocery store clerk to the bank teller. Here’s what I do. I look for a name tag and say, “Hello Don, how are you?” After doing this for several years I’ve discovered that about 80 percent of the time the other person brightens up. Sometimes I even get extra service by way of tips or directions.

About 19 percent of the time I get no response and the service person stays just as stone-faced as before. About 1 percent of the time they get even grumpier. Oh, well. The gains far out weigh the losses so I’m happy.

Next time you order a hamburger or a wheat juice beverage look at the person behind the counter and say, “Hi, how are you?” It might make your life just a little more pleasant here in Connecticut.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Life Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.