Just an observation...

[Raven]

People in the service business are so blown away by the constant barrage of nasty, growling, yelling customers that it seems all you have to do is smile, say "please" and "thank you" and "have a good day" and you are instantly a rock star or some very welcome, alien creature from another planet. Sad, sad, sad.

[luvs2sing]

1. I grew up in a small town..

where the server, cashier or grocery stock clerk might be a friend’s parent or the spouse of a teacher, or a neighbor. Everyone pretty much knew everyone else, and being a customer in a store was also a social event. I’m hardwired to be kind, friendly, and respectful to service workers. I’ve also noticed how much more appreciative people are to this than ever before.

The grocery where I shop recently did a “reset”. They literally flipped the store around. The new layout makes more logical sense. I’ve shopped at stores where this was a confusing disaster, but not this store. Every week, they posted what had been moved and where you could now find it, they moved things a few aisles at a time, and for this picky shopper, it was a little confusing but not at all unpleasant or frustrating. The best part was, every person who worked there checked in to see if I was finding things okay. I made sure to gush about what a great job they were doing, and every person told me how grateful they were to hear this because not everyone is so nice.

[malaise]

2. And not just in the US

Good observation

[Walleye]

4. Yesterday at my usual store,the clerk thanked me for bagging my groceries