Mission: raising a smile from the checkout assistant

I consider myself to be a reasonably friendly person. I get on well with our post lady, and have a good relationship with my neighbours. I enjoy a little banter with the owner of the corner shop and I'm happy to give a smile to someone walking past me in the street. I will always make a bee-line for someone at a networking meeting who's looking uncomfortable, and say hello to break the ice.

What I can't stand is an uncommunicative assistant serving at a check-out. I'm sure they don't mean to be rude but that's how they appear sometimes. I understand the job may be boring and repetitive, that many of the customers might not acknowledge the human who is serving them – but I'm not one of them.

In fact, it's a mission of mine to get a smile out of any check-out assistant who has no idea what I look like because they haven't raised their head. In a pointed way, I'll say hello. Some hint of acknowledgement is usually forthcoming. I'll press on, smile, and make a comment in an attempt to empathise with the check-out assistant and get a conversation going.

It is so gratifying to raise a smile. Often, the person serving me welcomes the attention. I don't mind if I'm a distraction from the monotonous scanning process, or the conversation adds a more human dimension to the assistant's job – I figure I'm providing a social service either way.