Smile, And The World Reluctantly Smiles With You

I work at a popular second-hand retail chain. About once a week a lady comes in near closing and asks to try on lots of clothing, and to look into the jewelry case. She is extremely picky and takes as long as possible at the register, and all the while being very rude to the cashiers and to me at the fitting rooms.

I take a piece of cardboard, draw a big smiley face on it, and smack it against my forehead to greet the few customers we have when they walk by. The rude woman in question does her best to ignore me, until she finally starts the checkout process with my manager.

Running up to customer service, I shout, “[Manager]!” and smack the smiley face against my forehead. My manager has to nearly stop the transaction from trying not to laugh.

The rude woman remains silent but cracks a smile.

Every time she’s been in the store since, she has been quicker and not raised her voice once. She also says, “There’s my little friend!” to greet me. Now, she uses pleasant conversation to slow down the transactions. Hey! It’s a good improvement.