There you go; have a good one

There you go; have a good one

Another summer, another bumper crop of students working the cash registers. They are ambitious, no doubt, but for the last few years virtually all of them have come to use a new lingo when handing over the receipt or change. It is, “Have a good one” or “There you go.”

Maybe “Have a nice day” once in a while. There are many, too, who say nothing at all. These bright young kids have probably reasoned that, having no proprietary interest in the business, they get nothing more than their regular pay check for saying, “Thank you” on behalf of the business owner. Perhaps a thank you would contribute to the goodwill of a business and a greater volume of customers. What is the reasoning that “Have a good one” is considered a good substitute for a sincere “Thank you?”

In recent years, newspapers published articles about strategies businesses were employing to enhance customer services and other perks to attract a greater market share, all the while their front line workers were dropping “Thank you” from their vocabularies. As a youth in the same position, I was taught to say “Thank you” to every customer I served, working a soda fountain after school at the corner drugstore. Soda fountains have gone the way of four track tapes, and today, the corner drugstore might refer to a slow moving car in the school parking lot.

My experience indelibly etched “Thank you” in my speech so much so that I continue thanking cashiers for the receipt and change instead of the other way around. I wonder if these same kids acknowledge a birthday or graduation check by telling their grandparents or others to “Have A good one.” On the other hand, maybe they’re just following instructions.

Gerald T. Padar

Elgin