The DARK TRUTH Behind “Have a Nice Day”!
Have you ever told someone to “have a nice day”? Let’s talk about what you’re REALLY communicating…
Hi guys, quick question: Are you having a nice day? Are you having a good one? If not don’t spend money on therapy when you can get a nice day for free. Just head to your local grocery store!
I just finished shopping at my local grocery store here in Nashville. And, it’s a grocery store that is way over priced. But it’s worth it, because they taught all their employees to fake the fact that they care you’re there. As I was leaving, I had no less than four employees tell me to have a nice day on the way out.
I have often wondered how one goes about having a nice day. What even constitutes a nice day in the first place? I mean, how hard is it? I suppose not getting electrocuted would define a nice day but couldn’t it be really anything? What about boiling some eggs? If you like hard boiled eggs, boiled some and then eating them… wouldn’t that be nice? Since the niceness happened within the course of a day, then apparently you have had a nice day… even after doing something stupid like that. It seems there needs to be an established standard somewhere to evaluate if our day was nice after all.
What if, on the other hand, something goes wrong during the day that makes it a bad day. But later, something nice happens? Which day is it then, nice or not? Is there a rule? Maybe the last place the day landed becomes the defining point for the day, you think? Why do we say, “Have a nice day”, but when it isn’t nice we say that we are having a “bad” day? Shouldn’t it be we’re having a “mean” day? Isn’t “mean” the opposite of “nice”?
I also think we need to take into consideration who we are asking to have a nice day since that could make all the difference. A nice day to me may not be considered as nice to, say, Attila the Hun. His idea of a nice day starts with crushing the skulls of your enemy with battle-axes and broadswords; and ends sweetly with some ill-gotten gains of meat, hearty stew and foraged animal skins. Oh, and let us not forget a nightcap of raping and pillaging.
Putting the pressure on a stranger to have a nice day is also off putting and potentially insulting. How do you know I’m not in the middle of a nice day? Maybe this is one of the nicest days I have ever had then you come along and ruin it by implying it’s not nice enough. Now I’m starting to get paranoid about my settling for my pathetic nice day when there was a better one waiting for me, as long as I ran into a cashier and bagger at the grocery store to encourage me into the promised land. What do they know that I don’t?
Yes, I get most of my life encouragement and motivation from teenagers making seve bucks an hour. I think ultimately, the term “Have a nice day” is an insult. Why would anyone ever need a reminder to have a nice day like it never occurred to you until that moment? What idiot wakes up and hopes for a crappy day? Who isn’t always – EVERY day – shooting for a nice one?
The Bible tells us that whatever state you’re in, in that to be content. That’s right whatever state you’re in, which could include, I suppose, Massachusetts… as well as Indiana. So, how you pull that off is beyond me since some states are clearly diametrically opposed, ideologically! What “Have a nice day” could mean, in reality, is a reminder that you should be grateful for the day you have. You’re not going to always have a nice day, and there are plenty of people whose last day is today and they don’t even know it yet. That could even be me, but since we tape these segments in advance, I could be dead already and am just now bringing this episode to you… which is as creepy as it gets. Not to mention: What are you guys doing at home watching my show when you should be at my funeral, paying your respects, and fighting for the opportunity to eulogize me and the miraculous way I changed your life for the better? Ingrates!
The one truth I have come to understand about living is that your attitude is everything. Attitude, by the way, can almost always be made better by practicing one simple principle: Gratefulness. When you learn that your circumstances don’t define you; but you have the power to redesign your circumstances simply by being grateful for your blessings – no matter how small they may be, you will find yourself having more nice days than you can count!
All in all, I’m simply saying that having a nice day may not happen to me since I don’t control my circumstances. But, what I make of whatever circumstance comes my way today can and should be an inspiration to all. Maybe that’s the phrase we should start using, after all? If we encouraged each other to make a nice day, we just might be onto something.
Anyhow that’s my thoughts for today so have a good one…Hey, wait a minute… make a good one?…sorry
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