I always like to put stuff back in the right spot in store shelves, and fix it if I notice something misplaced or fallen down. It's just a small thing for me to do, but I know I take a little annoyance out of someone's workday.
this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
99 points (98.1% liked)
Casual Conversation
2970 readers
269 users here now
Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.
RULES (updated 01/22/25)
- Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling. To be concise, disrespect is defined by escalation.
- Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible. You won't be punished for trying.
- Avoid controversial topics (politics or societal debates come to mind, though we are not saying not to talk about anything that resembles these). There's a guide in the protocol book offered as a mod model that can be used for that; it's vague until you realize it was made for things like the rule in question. At least four purple answers must apply to a "controversial" message for it to be allowed.
- Keep it clean and SFW: No illegal content or anything gross and inappropriate. A rule of thumb is if a recording of a conversation put on another platform would get someone a COPPA violation response, that exact exchange should be avoided when possible.
- No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc. The chart redirected to above applies to spam material as well, which is one of the reasons its wording is vague, as it applies to a few things. Again, a "spammy" message must be applicable to four purple answers before it's allowed.
- Respect privacy as well as truth: Don’t ask for or share any personal information or slander anyone. A rule of thumb is if something is enough info to go by that it "would be a copyright violation if the info was art" as another group put it, or that it alone can be used to narrow someone down to 150 physical humans (Dunbar's Number) or less, it's considered an excess breach of privacy. Slander is defined by intentional utilitarian misguidance at the expense (positive or negative) of a sentient entity. This often links back to or mixes with rule one, which implies, for example, that even something that is true can still amount to what slander is trying to achieve, and that will be looked down upon.
Casual conversation communities:
Related discussion-focused communities
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I don't do it to remove someone else's annoyance: I do it because it annoys me, ha!
Joy is rebellion. Kindness is radical. Optimism is counterculture.
I just wanted to pull out this little nugget because, as the kids say:
Bars
As someone who works in a service job, people like this are very appreciated! Too many people just see a robot that exists only to serve their every whim and couldn't possibly have thoughts and feelings of it's own.
And to the people that say it's our job to make customers happy, yes it is. But you may find that by trying to brighten that worker's day they may go out of their way to make sure you have a superior experience. I certainly do, and when I'm the customer I've often found it to be the case as well.
I really like that you do this, and I try as well
For example, when I'm at thrift and an employee says "I'll put that back for you" I reply "That's okay I'll do it, you have enough work to do"
Never fails to brighten their day
As a service worker, I have a fair few regulars who I know will brighten my day when I see them. It really doesn't take much; a friendly demeanour, a smile, a joke or two, it all goes a long way to make me feel like we're having a human interaction rather than me being a machine through which you order food & drinks. I've been doing this type of work for years but I still get flabbergasted at people who answer "latte to-go" when I ask them how their day is going.
That being said, something that annoys me (not saying you do this, you sound sweet and self-aware) is when people try to chat us up when we're clearly busy and in a rush. I don't want to be rude, and I would love to chat if I had time, but when I have a mountain of tickets to get through I'm not going to be a particularly engaging conversation partner :P
EDIT: I just want to add;
Joy is rebellion. Kindness is radical. Optimism is counterculture.
Love this. it's basically my motto at work. It's kinda silly, but even something as simple as getting service from a friendly person can make a difference in someone's day. Last year, I had a couple come in the café I worked at, chatted them up a bit, made them laugh. Come to learn they're from out of town, and I ask "what brings you to these parts?" only for the lady to break out into tears and tell me they were here for her mother's funeral. In between her sobs, she said they wanted to go out for breakfast to clear her thoughts from her grieving, and that she truly appreciated the kind and thoughtful service my coworkers and I gave them.
I went into the back and cried a bit after that, but it truly feels nice to make a positive difference in someone's day. I think about her a lot when I have a rough day at work, it helps keep me focused on trying my best. You never know what someone's going through.
It really does cut both ways. I feel like it's easy for both sides to get wrapped up in this just being another face in the sea of millions. Another person to deal with.
Especially when we have a lot going on. Where they might not know the shitshow playing out in the back of house, we can't know the show going on back at theirs.
As someone currently stuck in a service gig, thank you. We might not always show it, but at the end of the day, a good customer interaction is a bright spot. Many of us are tired, in every way you can think of. I have watched my coworkers lose and find a religion in the back freezer, all within one 10 minute cry break.
An example from just this morning. While ending a support call with T-Mobile I said “it’s name correct?, thank you name I really appreciate you” And I could practically see her smile through the phone as she said “Wow! You actually remembered. Thank YOU so much!!” Turns out people just want to be treated with kindness, and as crazy as it sounds treated like actual humans.
I just say thank you and try to be reasonable and not use up more of their time than I need to.
That's another way to be nice. A mixture of both makes for a good shift, even if one other customer is shitty.