Have a good one! Really?

by guest blogger Heath P. Boice

I swear.  The next time I'm going to say it.  I really am.

The next time a cashier, or anyone says to me, "Have a good one."  I'm going to respond, "I already do."

Or maybe I’ll say, "What about two, three, and four?" 

I’ll admit it.  I’m a sucker for good customer service.  This might account for the fact that one of my favorite places on earth is Walt Disney World, the mecca of service “magic.”  But even though I realize that I cannot live in customer service nirvana, is it too much to ask a store’s cashier to say, “Thank you, please come again.”  Or perhaps, even more outrageous, “Have a nice day.”  Instead, these platitudes have been bastardized into, “Have a good one.”  Why is this? 

In today’s world of social networking, texting, and email, perhaps, “Have a good one,” is just about as personal as it gets.  I suppose that compared with “LOL!” (laugh out loud) or, “TTYL,” (talk to you later) “Have a good one” is a veritable feast of hospitality.  But is this the new standard that we want to condone?  I don’t.
Maybe it’s not the statement as much as the overwhelmingly bland way it is commonly delivered.  Never have I heard a cashier at the supermarket say excitedly, “Thanks so much.  Have a good one!!!!”  or the kid at the drive through window shout, “Don’t forget to have a good one, sir!”  It’s always a monotonous drone, almost as an afterthought as I walk away, “have a good one.”  As if Eeyore were working in retail.  Why does this irk me so much?  Perhaps I need a life.

I suppose if there was a law against, “Have a good one,” something worse would probably take its place.  Maybe, “Get the hell away, now.”  Or, “I hate my job.” Or worse, “Did you really need those fries, tubby?”

I guess that there are much more important issues to get annoyed about.  I realize, at the end of the day, that there are more significant things to consider in the world.  Like the use of “at the end of the day.”   I cringe every time I hear it.  Clearly I DO need to get a life.

================================
A college administrator for 20 years, and former resident of the New Jersey shore, author Heath P. Boice combines both in his new series of cozy mysteries.  The first book in the Ocean Grove Mysteries is "Missing by the Midway."  The second book, Buried By The Boardwalk, will be out this fall.  For more information, check out www.101mysteries.com