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I can't believe it. I'm a sucker for a cute smile. We went to Jose's for lunch (as we usually do) and we got this waitress who I didn't recognize (although weirDo thought she'd been working there for a while). Anyway, having not served us before (and not seeing our tips), she look way too chipper to be normal and always flashed this bright smile when she served us. She even defended me when people were complaining on how slow I was eating (aw, ain't that sweet?). So in the end, I gave her a big tip. I don't know what came over me. Okay, okay, I normally give a pretty normal tip (on a three dollar meal, fifty cents is plenty), but for some reason, I had some sort of compulsion to give more money..
*left hand starts reaching for wallet*
*right hand swats it away*
But that's not the only time I've been caught by a pretty smile. There's a certain girl who (sometimes) sat next to me in class, and after she smiled the first time she talked to me, I tried every day to make her smile at least once. I just loved seeing that grin. *reminisces*
Oh, and there were others. Many others. I think people should smile more often. It can make such a difference to the people around you, and really does help when people are down. I remember when I was walking around downtown around U of T a couple of years ago, I came across this lady who seemed to be frowning so I smiled, and she looked a little surprised before smiling back. (To reiterate) I think people should smile more often.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 at 19:36:20 (UTC)
Hmm, I vaguely remember a study being done that related tipping behaviour to how attractive the waitress was. Coincidence? Naaah.
I remember more clearly a study that was done in a major U.S. city (Boston I think). A researcher was looking into the stereotype that city slickers were unfriendlier than other types. So, he posted his grad students at major subway stations and had them smile at passengers as they walked through. Then he moved his grad students to the suburbia subway stations and repeated the procedure.
Interestingly enough, his grad students were able to recognize some of the same passengers in both places. It turns out that, yes, people were less likely to smile back at the busy city stations but as soon as they entered surburbia, they started smiling again.
He hypothesized that we get bombarded by so much stimuli in the city that we tend to shut ourselves as a defense mechanism. As soon as we're in the peace and quiet of the burbs, we lighten up again.
<grin>
Grinning Reaper