Quick morning tip: Say hi to a stranger
Good morning, folks!
I know it’s not morning for all of you when you read this. Maybe not even to most of you. So good day, good evening and good night, depending on what time it is wherever you are!
This morning I wanted to share a quick tip that I have learned from my morning experiences during past few days:
I wake up at 5 AM and take the first bus leaving from my stop every morning. At that time there aren’t many people at the stop waiting for the bus so after a few days you sort of get to know all the people traveling on the same bus.
You know their faces. You know which seats they will occupy when they get on the bus.
But you never talk to them.
A few days ago I decided to make an exception. There is this middle aged lady who I have seen every day for a few months already, never having said a word.
This time I collected all my courage and said it out loud:
“Good morning!”
You should have seen her face.
Her smile was so bright when she answered “Good morning” that you could even hear it in her voice.
Yesterday she was the first to greet me. This time I was the one with the big smile.
Try it! Say hi to a stranger. You’ll love it.
And if you don’t want to take my word for this, here’s a related post from Hello, my name is Scott: Practice intentional discomfort.
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I got used to conversing with strangers when I was in sales. It is weird approaching random people at first, but you get used to it.
Yeah its funny how we dont talk to people we frequently meet. However it does feel good making that new acquaintance, once you introduce yourself.
I remember visiting a coffee shop close to the office. After few months I decided to talk to few people. As a result I have new friends at that place and sometimes it feels like the TV comedy Cheers.
Matthew: Thanks for the encouragement :)
Abhishek: You’re right. It’s like deep down everyone is thinking that maybe I should say something, but then the shyness takes over and you start to think: “Well, we don’t really know each other… What would that person think if I started talking to him? Maybe I’d better not push it…”
And so we all stand there without saying a word.
Your coffee shop experience sounds great! Talking to people can really make a big difference.
Thanks for the link love!
Great post Jarkko! As you know, I’m a big fan of talking to everyone and being friendly everywhere you go! A friend of mine says you should be “love, joy and happiness waiting to happen!” Good story about the benefits of doing just that…
So, I get this heinous virus on my computer and I take it to The Geek Squad. I’m stading in line for about 20 minutes watching as Anthony, The Geek, being berated by the other customers. When I finally get up to him he apologized and I give him a big smile and say it’s no problem. I tell him what is wrong and as he’s writing it up, I proceed to ask him about his day, how long he’s work for The Geek Squad, etc. Just being my friendly self. He let’s me know that it will be 10 days before my computer is ready and I leave a bit dejected…I’ve only had my new laptop for 2 weeks at this point.
Well, 2 hours later, I’m sitting at lunch and Anthony calls to say “I really appreciate you being pantient with me at the store today, so I went ahead and took care of your computer. you can pick it up in 15 minutes.” YESS!!!!
Moral of the Story: Be nice to everyone all the time.
Oooooh! I’m turning that into a blog post.
Scott: My pleasure :)
Graham: That’s a great story! I’m looking forward to your post. Being nice really pays off. Plus it feels good.
Look at YOU at 100 RSS readers!! Go Jarkko!
I hit 20 today, 3 weeks in! Go Graham!
Thanks Graham!
20 in 3 weeks means that you’re well on your track for reaching 100 at 3 months. Go Graham!
BTW, today it seems that my RSS figure dropped to 96… But I’m sure it’ll be back up soon :)
yes .. it feels nice to make someones day …