More on masks….
When I’m out in public, I may feel rushed to get my errand finished so that I make room for other shoppers or limit my time inside.
But as I have written before, there are always two things happening in these situations—1) getting the task done, and 2) connecting with the human helping with the task. I can hurry through the encounter, prioritizing the “task” part, I can linger over the “human” part, wasting their time, or I can balance the two components.
It doesn’t take any longer for the cashier to ring me up if I’m pleasant, make eye contact, and am sure to smile underneath my mask. The smile changes the way my face looks, so she can tell I’m connecting with her. In addition, she can hear the smile in my voice as I say thank you and have a great day.
We have barriers between us. I want to use all the tools I can to bridge them.
