I was going through the self-checkout at the grocery store this afternoon when a woman got in line behind me. She seemed irritated at having to wait. I made some sort of comment about how the conveyor system didn’t work very well, sort of an apology for not being faster. She didn’t so much as twitch a facial muscle. She just continued to stand there coldly with the same irritated expression on her face.<\/p>\n
I spend most of my time at home, so maybe I expect too much from the people that I encounter on the outside, but I do feel that some sort of recognition of my existence was in order. A nod, a smile, a shrug—anything would have been fine. Even “F— you!” would have seemed friendly by comparison.<\/p>\n
Why do I care? I don’t know. I guess I believe that each person we meet affects our perceptions of the world and that the world might seem like a nicer place if more people were willing to contribute so small a thing as a smile for a stranger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was going through the self-checkout at the grocery store this afternoon when a woman got in line behind me. She seemed irritated at having to wait. I made some sort of comment about how the conveyor system didn’t work … Continue reading