The New Law of Smiling
There oughtta be a law that says if you're working in a store that serves dessert-like food, you have to have a bubbly, cheerful personality. I'm going to call my senator, representative, congressman and anyone who'll listen. Make a law that supports this idea. I walked up to a Cinnabon tonight as we wrapped up celebrating my son's birthday. He wanted to get Cinnabites, those hackeysack-sized morsels of cinnamon buttery goodness. Well, the girl who helped us was busy wiping down one of her baking trays. And that's super important 'cause you don't want to be cookin' in a dirty pan. So we waited at the window for her. And waited. And waited. Finally, she came up to us and I had my son order. She just looked at him,
expectantly. So he spoke up and said, "Can I have 2 Cinnabites?" She incorrectly pointed to the tray of Cinna-minis and said gruffly, "which one?" So he correctly pointed to the other pan of Cinnabites. No greeting. No smile. No idle small talk. Not even a "izzit yer birthday?" She packed up the two packages and said rather blandly, "$7.31." I handed her the money. She very efficiently handed me my change.No smile. No small talk. Not even a "izzat yer son?" And, no, not even a "thank you."How bad can this job be? You're selling sweet, buttery cinnamon-flavored desserts. You're surrounded by gooey dough, special cinnamon, enough sugar to power an entire basketball team. And I'm sure there's sneaking of samples going on all the time. Just one of the benefits of the job, right? It's a cheerful place. It's not
like customers have to be convinced to buy the stuff. You're selling indulgence in a box, for heaven's sake! I'm sure the Cinnabites tasted fine. They were devoured in a matter of minutes. But I'm sure they would have tasted sweeter with a smile.So my law will read, "Thou shalt be cheerful at the Cinnabon window, especially if you're serving yummy Cinnabites to someone celebrating their birthday."
