{"id":2404,"date":"2013-08-31T14:31:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T21:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com.php5-21.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com\/wordpress\/?p=2404"},"modified":"2013-08-31T14:41:24","modified_gmt":"2013-08-31T21:41:24","slug":"you-gotta-talk-to-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/you-gotta-talk-to-them\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>
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It's just a bonus!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I passed a certain milestone birthday a few years ago, I made a few resolutions.\u00a0 One of them was, talk to strangers more<\/em>.\u00a0 This has generally worked out very well.\u00a0 It\u2019s particularly good advice when speaking to working people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By that I mean, people you encounter during your normal day-to-day routine who are busy doing their jobs.\u00a0 In particular, the people who are serving you.\u00a0 Sales clerks.\u00a0 Waitresses.\u00a0 Toll booth and parking lot\u00a0folks.\u00a0 Fluffers.\u00a0 Parole agents.<\/p>\n

Talk to them\u00a0 <\/em>Look them in the eye.\u00a0\u00a0 Speak to them as your peers (because they are).\u00a0 Talk to the tired host at the restaurant like you\u2019d be inviting him to join your table if his shift was about to end.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m serious.\u00a0 It\u2019ll make you happier and it\u2019ll make them happier.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an added benefit.\u00a0 Several times lately, I\u2019ve been given freebies by salespersons I\u2019ve been chatting up.\u00a0 Let me emphasize that this isn\u2019t generally my goal, but it can be a surprise fringe benefit.<\/p>\n

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Please allow Henry and me our privacy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was at one of my favorite health food establishments in Santa Rosa, California recently, and the girl behind the counter was enjoying chatting with me so much that she deliberately served me a treat that was a size larger than the one that she charged me for.\u00a0 And just today, after I lavished praise on the clerk at a steakhouse in Midtown Sacramento for the business\u2019s practice of including Diet Dr. Pepper among their soda selections, she gave me two drinks and charged me for one.<\/p>\n

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Of course, it\u2019s not life-changing when you get these freebies, but they are a) nice surprises and b) handy reinforcements that you\u2019re doing something right.<\/p>\n

Also, let\u2019s not forget the lesson we learned from Scott Prouty, the bartender who basically lost the election for Mitt Romney last year by filming and going public with the Governor\u2019s \u201c47%\u201d remarks.\u00a0 One of the reasons he was loaded for bear against Romney was because of an earlier incident in which Romney was rude to him when he served him a Diet Coke.\u00a0 It simply didn\u2019t occur to Romney to treat a bartender like a human being.\u00a0 Perhaps if Romney had followed my advice, he\u2019d be President now.<\/p>\n

So trust me on this.\u00a0 Talk to the people who are doing jobs for you every day.\u00a0 It\u2019s an easy way to improve your day.<\/p>\n

And what of my other<\/em> resolutions?\u00a0 Well, out of respect for his privacy, I choose not to discuss the key \u201cStart Returning Henry Cavill\u2019s phone calls\u201d resolution at this time.<\/p>\n

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