Posts Tagged ‘students’
This day featured some interesting events at work. A very shy somewhat introverted (and very intelligent) fellow at work now seems to be one of my better friends there. It almost seems as if my smiling opened up communications greatly. He is the type that will be “seemingly miles away” at times, pondering on some new idea. And truthfully, I can be like that as well! But the smiles serve as a way to communicate – a way to cut through that distraction. Also, I noticed that another fellow that seemed to be sort of lukewarm toward me is now much friendlier.
Smiles will cut through distractions!
Another interesting event occurring at work was when I walked past and greeted a coworker (that I don’t hardly know but often see) on the way to my class. This person had a grimace on their face. And it almost appeared to be permanently in place! I remember when I was a kid my mom warned me not to contort my face in this goofy way I was doing as it would stay that way – through coincidence or something else, I had on this goofy expression in my school photo! At any rate, I stopped making that crazy face! Could grimacing all the time also become a permanent look? For sure I think the negative feelings leading to the grimace could become somewhat permanent.
In my classroom, I found it easier than ever to smile at and with my students, despite the hectic pace to finish our material before semester’s end. It was an enjoyable time of teaching.
More smiles at work with coworkers and students. I guess the one interesting thing I noted was that one student seemed to be joking around more than usual during the break, lightening up the mood. At any rate, I am glad for anything to lighten the mood up. Otherwise, I had a lot to cover this day and it was difficult to get too much smiling in. I tried. Once again, one should always smile when you can, because many times you just can’t.
On this day I paid a visit to the dentist. Before I could even think of smiling, the receptionist greeted me with a great big smile. Folks in the waiting room, on the other hand, seemed a bit downcast. I was able to greet one waiting guy with a smile, but no chain reaction of cheer followed. Once in the dentist chair, I was greeted by a very friendly dentist and assistant. In fact, the two dentists at this facility are both very friendly and smiley all the time. And I think it rubs off on all the staff working for them because everyone at this particular office seems very friendly. This is perhaps one of the reasons our entire family, our inlaws, and just about everybody we know, choose this dentist. A tip for business owners or management, especially those dealing with the public:
When top management smiles, support staff smiles. The entire organization becomes more productive, worker turnover decreases, and customers will flock to your place of business.
I also stopped at a grocery store on the way home. Both the clerk and bagger were receptive to smiles.
On this day, I had an opportunity to interact with two store clerks, an eye doctor, and an eye glasses specialist at Lens Crafters. The first store clerk I encountered seemed somewhat unaffected by any smiling on my part. But then, as I was leaving, she returned a smile to one of her coworkers – maybe a delayed reaction? My eye doctor seemed impervious to just about anything. Smiles, grimaces, jokes, suggestions – nothing seemed to break through to his private world of eyes – I guess that is how it can be with highly focused and trained professionals. The glasses guy – that was another story entirely. He seemed to be waiting for someone to break a smile and break the ice – we joked and laughed a bit about my boring taste in glasses. I told him that if I became rich I would be back for another more stylish pair to wear at speaking engagements!
More interactions with my students revealed that students tend to laugh at your jokes a bit better if you can prime them with some smiles. Perhaps that is why my attempts at jokes in the past fell flat?
Later, I picked up some motor oil at a car parts store. The clerk seemed to be a step ahead of me. He was about the friendliest, most helpful clerk I have ever encountered in such a store! Without a doubt, it would make me want to go back to this store. His smiles were there for each and every customer I am quite sure.
On the very first day of this experiment, I made a point to pleasantly smile at most everybody I came in contact with. The results were interesting:
- A fellow that I thought did not much care for me smiled back as I passed him in the hallway. Actually, this was the 2nd or 3rd time I passed by him and smiled.
- Some of my students (I am a teacher) stayed after classes to talk with me. This normally does not happen much. Suddenly I became so much more approachable!
- Overall, I found the reaction from virtually everybody (even strangers) to be very positive. This in turn made my day a bit better.
I will post again in a day or two about tomorrow and the next day as I try this experiment on family members and also I interact with some men at a men’s retreat. They don’t know I am conducting this experiment, by the way! Actually, nobody knows! I will not tell anybody until after the 30 days are over.
