You know the type, probably a good father or worker, but serious faced all the time, never smiles, often in a bad mood, very cynical. It’s just I feel like I’m on the path to this, I’m 28, just escaped 12 years of food service so I’m already super cynical and if someone comes up to me, I’m super ready to shut down whatever’s about to happen. I feel like working with customers for years I’ve learned to have giant walls up and I can’t seem to remove them. I see the other guys in the factory I’m working at laughing and joking all the time, I think of myself as funny but it’s always deadpan humor and I wish I could genuinely smile and laugh and make friends with the other guys. Any old timers or well travelers out there have any advice?
☝️underrated comment. I’ve been doing remote tech support & customer service for a few years and taught myself to smile whenever I’m typing out a message to a customer. Even though the customer can’t see it, it nudges my head in the right direction and makes the work more tolerable.
You are literally bio-hacking your brain by doing this. It seems counterintuitive but your mood is partially controlled by a feedback loop in your brain, and smiling will essentially force other parts to get on board the happy train.