LJ Idol Week 1: Empty Gestures
Oct. 15th, 2009 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
themegalooSo I'm sure I'm not the only person who looked at this and went "...okay well that's all well and good, but what am I going to write about?" And then googled and got all manner of things about politics and reform, then went on wiki to find it doesn't have a page, urbandictionary to see something about the obvious meaning... Nothing really to jog the brain.
And then I thought about a conversation my mum and I had not two days ago. We had gone to CVS and Food Lion to pick up her hormones and a few things I needed for dinner. My dad had bought most of the ingredients for me to make a curry, but not quite enough tomatoes or spring onions, which, let me tell you, are rather vital to this curry! There were more than enough peppers, mind, but that is hardly the point.
Now, I've been in a lot of Food Lion's across the south and in most of them, as far as I can recall, they go "Welcome to Food Lion!" as you walk in. So they did that, we picked up the vegetables, checked out and were heading out. I hadn't thought much about their greeting at first, but as we were leaving they were clowning around with it, like there was some sort of competition as to who would be the first to shout it out. Ribbing at each other and the like. I said as much to my mum, she agreed, said it sounded like there were a cake on the line or something.
Which got us to talking about the differences between here and Georgia. I'd never really took much notice of the Food Lion thing of shouting welcomes, but in retrospect I could recall that it did tend to happen, and had always been quite natural. This didn't feel natural. It's as though we're still in the south, technically, even if it's not in the 90's and sunny still in October, but not as far south. So they'll say "Welcome to Food Lion!" but they don't seem to mean it quite as much.
I like being said hello to when I'm out at the shops. It's the opening, the invitation to have a quick chat as your items are being scanned at the register, to idly comment on the weather, etc. I've always been the sort of person to strike up conversations in the elevator, at the rest stop, in the bar, in the queue. It's served me well and lets me know, passingly, a lot of people. It's that one moment, a quick connection that lets you know for sure that you are not alone in this universe.
But that hello? That "Welcome to Food Lion!" That one felt like an empty gesture, like something the boss said to do, like being told to upsell at the movie theater. I worked in one for a while and I never, ever figured out how to say "LET ME MAKE YOU SPEND MORE MONEY" without sounding like an arse. So mostly, I didn't. But I was fast, nice, and efficient so they never had a problem with me. Even trained me in the "cafe," which they only let a few people do because you'd be on your own. So yeah, maybe if I got the secret shopper one day, I'd have been in a bit of trouble, but mostly? I did alright. And I felt good about it too, because I would talk to them for those few minutes, figure out what they needed, and serve it with a genuine smile on my face because I was having fun doing it, no matter how crap the job really was.
We live in a consumerism market, with goods and services pushed at us from every direction by people who are told to "be polite," but what I like? I people who are polite and friendly just on their own accord. Because that, that right there, is what makes living fun.
One little moment, however inane the conversation is in subject, that's really, actually, truly real.
And then I thought about a conversation my mum and I had not two days ago. We had gone to CVS and Food Lion to pick up her hormones and a few things I needed for dinner. My dad had bought most of the ingredients for me to make a curry, but not quite enough tomatoes or spring onions, which, let me tell you, are rather vital to this curry! There were more than enough peppers, mind, but that is hardly the point.
Now, I've been in a lot of Food Lion's across the south and in most of them, as far as I can recall, they go "Welcome to Food Lion!" as you walk in. So they did that, we picked up the vegetables, checked out and were heading out. I hadn't thought much about their greeting at first, but as we were leaving they were clowning around with it, like there was some sort of competition as to who would be the first to shout it out. Ribbing at each other and the like. I said as much to my mum, she agreed, said it sounded like there were a cake on the line or something.
Which got us to talking about the differences between here and Georgia. I'd never really took much notice of the Food Lion thing of shouting welcomes, but in retrospect I could recall that it did tend to happen, and had always been quite natural. This didn't feel natural. It's as though we're still in the south, technically, even if it's not in the 90's and sunny still in October, but not as far south. So they'll say "Welcome to Food Lion!" but they don't seem to mean it quite as much.
I like being said hello to when I'm out at the shops. It's the opening, the invitation to have a quick chat as your items are being scanned at the register, to idly comment on the weather, etc. I've always been the sort of person to strike up conversations in the elevator, at the rest stop, in the bar, in the queue. It's served me well and lets me know, passingly, a lot of people. It's that one moment, a quick connection that lets you know for sure that you are not alone in this universe.
But that hello? That "Welcome to Food Lion!" That one felt like an empty gesture, like something the boss said to do, like being told to upsell at the movie theater. I worked in one for a while and I never, ever figured out how to say "LET ME MAKE YOU SPEND MORE MONEY" without sounding like an arse. So mostly, I didn't. But I was fast, nice, and efficient so they never had a problem with me. Even trained me in the "cafe," which they only let a few people do because you'd be on your own. So yeah, maybe if I got the secret shopper one day, I'd have been in a bit of trouble, but mostly? I did alright. And I felt good about it too, because I would talk to them for those few minutes, figure out what they needed, and serve it with a genuine smile on my face because I was having fun doing it, no matter how crap the job really was.
We live in a consumerism market, with goods and services pushed at us from every direction by people who are told to "be polite," but what I like? I people who are polite and friendly just on their own accord. Because that, that right there, is what makes living fun.
One little moment, however inane the conversation is in subject, that's really, actually, truly real.
