I’m a very friendly person, always have been and hopefully always will be.
Ive worked in retail jobs & I currently work in a job where I have to call people (not cold calls). I have never found it difficult to be friendly to strangers no matter how poor my day is going.
It’s always so shocking to me how rude people naturally are on both sides of the equation. Simple things like, why don’t you say thank you to the McDonald’s worker when they hand you your meal? But also, why can’t the h&m worker muster a smile when I tell her to have a lovely day? I’d say 80% of people I speak to on the phone now are cold despite them requiring a service from me. About 30% are outright rude. This doesn’t stop me from being kind to the next person, though.
My friends complaing about working in low level customer service jobs or retails jobs and talking about how hard it is to be friendly all the time. This is really not something I’ve ever understood. Then, I’ll go out with them and the do the bare minimum ‘could I have this?’ ‘thanks’ to their server. There’s no warmth or treating people like a human!
I’ve got very charismatic, likeable friends who turn it on for everyone they meet, just not service workers? Is it genuinely a chore for some people? It comes so easy to me, it really confuses me.
EDIT: Also, I’m not like an especially good or nice person. I’m not a people pleaser. I’ll tell you if my meals wrong etc etc. I just feel like friendliness is bare minimum.