The actions listed above are the pieces in Smile&Move, a project devoted to, uh, smiling & moving. OK, that’s not a good summation. I’ll let the founder share why he, uh, founded the project:

“My daughter and niece opened their lemonade stand at the front of our neighborhood. Lemonade stands were everywhere that weekend. All were raising money for cancer research; it was a community service effort, part of a city-wide program.

Sitting at a distance, watching the girls work as cars pulled over to patronize their stand, I noticed what seemed to be a less than positive and energetic approach to serving their customers. It reminded me of the adults that I’ve encountered in too many places, who seemed put out or moved with complete indifference.

In a lull between visitors I asked, “Why are you doing this lemonade stand, girls?”

“To get our community service hours for school,” they said.

“Any other reasons?”

“To raise money for cancer.”

“Right,” I said to their pre-teen eye roll. “Can you think of anything else?”

Silence.

“Dad, please.”

This was a core value issue—one worth the effort and challenge. “These people are stopping to be served lemonade because they might be thirsty but also so they can help you help people with cancer. They’re your customers and they have places to go but they’re giving you their support, their time, and money. You need to approach them happily, with a smile. And then you need to move quickly to get them their drink so they can enjoy it and move on.

You’re not doing them a favor. They’re doing you a favor. They don’t have to buy the lemonade and they don’t have to buy it from you. You need to smile and move, girls. Smile & move.”

From there, the site gives great tips on how to smile & move (& no smarty pants, they don’t just say “Smile.” “Move.”), like:

• To make better connections with people (and learn much more), when you’re talking with someone be sure to allow a small gap of silence between what they say… and your response.
• When asked to do something for someone else (friend, family member, colleague, customer) does your YES say “yes, if I have to” or “yes, it would be my pleasure”?
• How many excuses do you allow yourself to give others when you don’t deliver? How many do enjoy hearing from others?

Y’know, when I worked as a cashier at Barnes & Noble in Union Sq (where I rung up Meryl Streep!) during college, I was asked more than once by my co-workers how/why I was so happy/nice/friendly towards the customers during my shift. My response was always, “Have you ever went into a store and asked someone for help, or had someone ring something up that acted like you were bothering them? Or interrupting them from a nap? Or stopping them from daydreaming about blowing the place up? That always puts me in a bad mood. So, I always try to be friendly & happy when people come to my register. And, it’s my day too! Why would I want to spend a 6 or 8 or 10 hour shift wearing cranky pants?”

Hope you took off your cranky pants & are enjoying your weekend! Keep on smoving!

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Happy Hooplah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.