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There was a burger place in my town that was owned and operated by a bunch of women who called themselves a lesbian collective. It was a great hang and the burgers were very, very good.
They basically operated on this sentiment. If you were a dick, you were out. If you thought they were being dicks, you either adjusted your attitude or went hungry. Dead simple, and it worked. They were thriving.
And I don’t mean to make it sound like Patrick Swayze was working the door. It was the exact opposite. Good people running a good establishment serving good food who didn’t take shit off assholes. It’s surprising how much better a place feels for the customers when the employees get to have their dignity.
Unfortunately, they closed during COVID like most of the mom & pops around here. I miss it so much.
In modern America, smiling is normalised in a way that’s an outlier among human cultures. If someone in Russia smiled as much as the typical American, they’d be regarded as a simpleton, too feeble-minded to have an understanding of the world.
You look stupid or like a con artist.
I say this as an American.
If you are walking around smiling for no reason you look like an idiot.
If you walk up to me smiling and i don’t know you i prepare for a scam attempt.
Not sure how the rest of America hasn’t felt this way about it. Who smiles like an idiot at strangers? Mentally ill people. Car salesmen. Politicians… you know, shit people.
Only a fool smiles for no reason
When my family came to the USA from the Soviet Union, one of the weird things about the experience for us was how friendly American retail staff were. Brighton Beach in NYC is a neighborhood with a lot of Soviet immigrants, and you can still go there and experience retail staff glaring at you because you’re creating more work for them by coming into the store.
Interesting. I work at an American McDonald’s, most of my coworkers express disdain for the customers, although they typically don’t let them know that they hate them. However, if someone orders 13 burgers cooked to order, that shit isn’t happening. Personally, I’m probably nicer than I should be. A significantly more common problem is the customers being assholes to us. They act like pricks at the window where they pay, but act a little nicer when they get their food. I guess that nobody that’s at a McDonald’s is having a good day, so I understand to an extent.
Due to the disconnect between price, supply, and demand in the Soviet Union, many things officially cost little but there wasn’t enough for everyone who wanted to buy some. This gave retail workers (and everyone else in the distribution chain) informal power: they could make sure those who did them favors got special access.
Because they have the money that pays your salary.
Customer service was part of a social contract. “You make me feel important, and I will spend more money at your establishment.”
That contract was broken a long time ago and now it’s overworked, underpaid staff picking up lettuce off the floor because they’ll get fired if they throw it out and Karen recording the new cashier because she miscounted her change.
This is something that everyone gets at the weed store. I show up. I am ebullient. Friendly. I smile. They smile. I say Thank you happiness fairies, for selling me some happiness! They chuckle and say “we like it when you come by! see you next [oh gods i probably shouldn’t admit i have that bad of a weed problem, let’s just say tomorrow that’s not as bad]!” and i give them a decent tip because they give me a decent discount and it all evens out. I leave happy, they are happy, and when i was having a bad day [i had a visible case of the Did My SIL Really Just Get Herself Estranged By Going After My Cats?] they threw in a nice promotional penjamin to help cheer me up.
we are part of a community, even just at the grocer. sometimes it’s worth having a loud enough hat that people remember you.
Let that sink in
A good question
–Average waiter/waitress in Europe
