Have a GREAT day!

Isn't it amazing how we use certain phrases every day and don't really think about what they mean? Take for instance the phrase, "How are you doing?" I usually find myself using this phrase to start up a conversation with another person. Most people will answer with a pat response like "oh, I'm fine" or "great", etc. and then launch into conversation. I always wonder if the majority of people are just avoiding the honest answer such as "Well, my life isn't so good right now, but thanks for asking so that I would have to think about how pitiful things are again." I think if people said this, the conversation would be pretty much over before it started because most people who say this "How are you doing" thing really don't care how that person is honestly doing. (Oooo, very sad confession of mine.) It's just a phrase....

Another phrase that really bugs me is when a clerk at a store says, "Have a good one!" What????? Did I hear this correctly? Is he/she saying have a good day and just being lazy and replacing the word "day" with "one" because he/she just isn't thinking? Does anyone know what this "one" is referring too? It could be "Have a good...." dinner, or drive, or time, or shopping experience, or bowel movement for that matter. Has this become the new hip way of talking?

And finally I move to my favorite phrase, "Have a GREAT day!" which is, I believe, what McDonald's trains their employees to say at the end of every transaction. I get really tired of this phrase. Maybe it is because I drink Diet Coke from McDonald's far too frequently. When I am in the charitable mood, I simply say back, "Thanks, you too." And we both smile at each other and I screech away. But most of the time I am in the rushed-get-me-out-of-here-mood so I say, "I will, thanks." I look at those two statements in print and realize that they are profoundly different. One gives back to the worker; the other just leaves them hanging. I guess the second one is a tad bit rude? After all, they have just provided me with a very lovely $1.37 medium Diet Coke that will give me energy for the rest of the day!

So this week, I am going to mix it up a bit! Because I prefer to live on the edge and be different! When someone says, "Have a great day" to me I am simply going to reply "Actually, that's not the kind of day I had planned." And then stare at them with no smile and a blank stare.....it should be shockingly fun!

So my 4 faithful readers (welcome Amber!): "Have a GREAT day!".