The power of a smile
The past few weeks I have been traveling, and after meeting several strangers providing services I realised most, if not all treated me with kindness in return for a friendly smile.
The best moments were at different airports, in different countries. I was rushing to catch my transfer flight and went to the gate my app was saying. When I arrived the line was empty, but the next gate was pretty full. Both gates were used for the same flight it turned out, but to be safe I decided to check with someone at the empty gate. I asked politely with a smile if I needed to be at the other gate or this one. The person told me it was indeed the gate with the long queue, but they let me pass on this gate anyway and saved me from standing in line.
Another moment, I was in a terrible long queue for check-in. A lot of people in front of me were making troubles for the people behind the desks. Some with over weight luggage, another that refuses to check in a bag. I saw the faces of the people behind the desk, slowly dying inside. Mind you, I already had a delay with the train to the airport. My flight was leaving soon and I still needed to pass border control and security so slowly I got more anxious and annoyed too with the slow progress on the queue.
But once it was my turn, I greeted the person behind the desk with a friendly smile and asked how they were doing. Okay, they said. But I could imagine not so okay. My bag was little overweight, they said and they were supposed to reject it but they decided to let my bag pass and made a joke about not taking back too many souvenirs as they may not allow the bag on the other side. I thanked them a lot, got my boarding pass and rushed off to security/border control. All in good time eventually.
Then a last one, which made my day a lot better. Also at the airport, after my first flight was cancelled due bad weather, I missed all my connecting flights and requested a rebooking. The rebooking was okay, or so I thought. I couldn’t check in and right before I was leaving the hotel the next day to get the flight I got notified it was overbooked and they will try to put me on the next one the day after.
After some hours passed, still no confirmation it was going to be okay so contacted them again. Tickets were issued in the night I was sleeping, when I woke up I noticed the good news. But I wasn’t able to finish check-in online due technical errors. It being a long flight of 12hrs and a first leg with a very short layover I wanted to even pay premium for better seating in both flights. But the system was broke.
I decided to just make my way back to the airport 7 hours earlier before my flight, and check at the service desk if everything is alright. Once there they told me that I could already leave my bag, surprised but really happy I dropped it off and kindly asked if I could change my seats to better ones due the short layover and the second one being a long flight. I was a bit confused with the seating numbers so asked if I could see it on the screen but they said they were not allowed. They named a few seats, and eventually just let me take a really quick peek at the screen and got me much better seats for both flights and for free even. I thanked them beyond recognition and went to spend my day at the airport without my suitcase and some peace of mind.
I realised, a smile goes a long way. During some other minor moments, I also received friendly gestures and smiles that I clearly remember brightening my day just a little bit.
I’ll keep on smiling a lot more to the world from now on, no matter how bad my day is. And to every stranger out there that helped me, I’m truly grateful <3~