Defaulting to “Smile” Mode

As I entered Costco to pick up a few food items yesterday, I decided that—as an experiment—I would smile at anyone I met eye-to-eye.

Just because why not.

I smiled at the store greeter.  I smiled at a little red-headed boy in the walk-in produce cooler.  I smiled at the guy shuffling through salmon fillets.  I smiled at a hottie browsing through books.  I must have smiled at a dozen passers-by and a dozen store employees.

In the end, I have no way of knowing how the people I smiled at felt about all of this smiling.  Some people returned a smile.  Some didn’t.   The hottie quickly turned away from me—probably assuming I was an over-medicated ax murderer.

Or maybe she was an ax murderer.

How do you know?

Anyhow, I felt pretty cheery as I departed the store…over-medicated or not.

--Mitchell Hegman