After living in Michigan for 10 years, we
recently moved to Jacksonville, FL. Since the move the first four weeks, I
hardly got to go out and meet people. All I did was unpack, unpack and unpack
some more. In short, in those four weeks I didn't get to interact much with
people other than my family. No matter how much I love to interact with my dear
hubby, it was the time to see some other faces
So I found myself a new work assignment. I was
excited to start working again and see new faces. But at my workplace, I saw a
strange behavior. No one smiled.
First I thought, “I am new so people don't want
to smile back at me”. Gradually as few weeks passed by and nothing changed, I
started thinking, “May be this is Florida thing.” “May be people in Florida are
not as welcoming as folks back in Michigan; they don't reply back your smile”
But that turned out wrong too since few of them started to smile back at me.
Now my restless mind wanted to find out the real
reason why these other folks do not smile at all. I kept looking for unsaid
clues. Eventually, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Most of the folks in
leadership at my workplace never smile. Could that be the reason why most of my
coworkers don’t smile either? May be, the leadership team passes down the
scowled look to their dearest employees. And in turn...nobody smiles (well,
except a few).
When I look at these leadership folks and think about they
not smiling, even when you crack a joke (yes one time I cracked a joke in front
of one of the leadership members and he didn’t have a slight curve on his
face). I feel sad for these members. Most of them are in their late
thirties and early forties. I am sure they have tons of reasons to smile, that
is if they think about it...beautiful family, kids (seen pictures in their
cubicles), lucrative pay and I am sure many other perks. But, it seems like the
stress of the job is taking a toll on them.
People who are under stress need a chuckle more
than anybody else. Ironically, they are the ones who don’t laugh. Most of
us lose that laughing kid in us with responsibilities. But we must take a time
to bring that kid in us back, every once in a while. Work is never ending and so
is the stress in life. We can reduce this stress by talking to people around
us, by smiling at others, by having that one care free chuckle that will make
you forget worries of the day.
“Is it that hard to smile?” I ask. Come on
people, bring it on, it’s free…and offers loads of benefits!!
Remember Charlie Chaplin - "Smile and maybe tomorrow you'll see the sun come shining through for you."
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