Tuesday 1 July 2008

smile.


I went to see Happy-Go-Lucky a couple of days ago. It came at just the right time. I had an intense few days at work over the weekend, and was ready to hit the next customer who ignored me/wouldn't smile/refused to say thankyou over the head with a Pane Di Casa Stick (trust me, this would cause considerable damage.)

Enter the eclectic Poppy (Sally Hawkins) who's smile never left her face as she chatted on at a thousand words a minute in an attempt to brighten up someone, anyone's life. I laughed out loud during a movie, properly, for the first time in a long while in the Flamenco dancing scene (above). It was just what I needed. The unsmiling world around Poppy's optimism are the people who I serve everyday. It's not that hard just to be polite, to smile.

Don't get me wrong, I have some lovely customers. It's probably only one in ten or twenty that frustrate me. But it puts a downer on my day and I know that my bad mood then translates onto other people.

If you do nothing else today, smile at the person behind the counter. Say thankyou. You don't have to be over the top, in your face like Poppy, just be nice about it.


PS I would obviously recommend seeing the movie, but I would also advise against it if a) you are currently in the process of driving lessons/are contemplating taking driving lessons, or b) are having a career-direction-crisis, as it will quite possibly make you want to be a primary school teacher. The scene where Poppy and her kids are flapping around as owls is gorgeous.

29 days to go.

4 comments:

ryan said...
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amy said...

oh i desperately want to see this film!!! hope your planning is going well, i borrowed a gazillion lonely planets from the library before i left for my exchange x

danica said...

Oooh, I really want to check this film out now! It looks really gorgeous and colourful.

P.S Pane Di Casa? I'm assuming this is a reference to working in Baker's Delight? I did my time there as well in my first/second year of uni :)

Connor Tomas O'Brien said...

the scene with the bum was frustrating to me.
i still liked the movie though.