A simple smile

Friday, 1:45 pm

By Kate

Sep

14

2007

Late this morning I stopped by the bank to do a little inside (not drive-up) business. The teller already looked harried and distracted. When it was my turn, she asked what I wanted and wouldn’t make eye contact, which kind of bothered me. I usually have another teller, so I wasn’t sure whether this was her normal personality or if it was just a bad day for her. Nevertheless, I really don’t like it when people won’t make eye contact. I thought, “Well, she’s going to at least smile before I leave.” That’s not an easy project when the person whom you want to smile won’t even look at you.

But, when our transaction was finished, I said, “Thank you so much. I appreciate it.” And I did, but it’s still sort of an out of the way thing to say for a very normal banking transaction. But it grabbed her attention and she looked me straight in the eye. Maybe to see if I meant it. She must have judged that I did by the smile on my face and suddenly the widest and sweetest smile lit up her whole face, including her eyes. My goodness, it was enough to brighten the entire lobby. She really should use it more often. Such a simple thing as a smile—I walked out of there feeling as if I’d been gifted with something special. And I didn’t expect that. That’s the power of a smile.