Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Oh, where has all the sincerity gone? It hit me today as I walked through the mall on my way back from school (I'm one of those people that park there for free when I'm not supposed to - feel the rebellion!).

Since I've got a long night of work ahead of me, I thought a Second Cup would do me good. I walked into the cafe and instinctively looked at the coffee bins to check the flavours of the day. Somewhere in the background I heard "Hi, how are you today?" I turned to respond, and before the the sight registered to identify the source, said "Fine thanks. Yourself?" I kept looking, and she didn't look up, nor did she respond. What the hell? Did she even look at me?? Probably not. Maybe she saw movement at the corner of her eye and felt compelled to greet.

Afterwards, I went to a bookstore to check on a book that had interested me. As I walked in, I was promptly greeted with a "Hello, how are you doing today?" I looked to see a woman behind the desk looking in my direction. "I'm fine thanks, and your...." before I even finished the sentence, the woman turned to her companion and resumed conversation with a "So anyway....".

Great, we've got a person who can't be bothered to look at me, and a person who can't be bothered to break away from conversation long enough to take in my response. In sincere days, person 1 would look at me, and person 2 would hear me out for three seconds. Insincere days are upon us, however. In the future, if you don't give a shit about how I'm doing, don't ask me.

Some of you may be thinking "C'mon Andrew, they were just trying to be nice." Bull shit, that is not "nice". In my book, sincerity is inherent to being nice. If you act nice when you don't mean it, you are not nice. You're FAKE.