Hello, goodbye, thank you and have a nice day are all acceptable salutations when greeting others, but it seems as though the closer it gets to Christmas and New Years, the more frowning faces I see. I get more silent treatments and I encounter at least one Scrooge per day.

I finally decided to get all my Christmas shopping done in one day, at one store, and spent about two hours picking out the best gifts for my family and friends only to wait in line for 30 minutes and not have the cashier say one word to me.
Nothing, nada, zilch! She didn't even tell me the total for the items I just purchased. I had to look on the register's screen myself.

Normally I would have confronted her about it, but I have the holiday spirit and didn't want to make a scene.

I have heard about holiday depression and the Christmas blues - and I'm not asking for long, drawn-out conversations with strangers - but when you have a job that requires you to deal with the public, is a smiling face too much to ask for?

Companies spent tons of money training their workers to learn the ends and outs of their jobs, but how much time is spent on customer service?

In my opinion, customer service is the one thing that will keep the customers coming back.

So to all of you who work in the public eye and are lacking a little cheer, throw the bah-humbugs aside and force a smile or greet your customers with a warm hello.

It may not seem like a big deal to you, but to the person across the counter, it could make their day just a little bit brighter.

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