Have a Nice day!

Have a nice day!

How often do we hear it? How often do we say it? What percentage of the time is it said to us with true conviction and how often do we say it with conviction?

I work in industrial sales, both inside sales and outside sales. I wake up every day with a smile on my face. Why? I shall explain.

1) I woke up and I am breathing. That right there is a bonus.

2) I get to see my wife. I was a bachelor for thirty-eight years. I fought off marriage for twenty years, and thought I was winning. Well guess what? I lost! I see this beautiful woman and I count so many blessings that I am not worthy of. That puts a smile upon my face. How could it not? She is beautiful, kind, funny, intelligent, a good cook, she edits my blog and lets me watch football, basketball and curling. Plus I get to see her every day! How do you beat that? She is my best pal!

3) I have two beautiful, awesome dogs that show me they too are happy that I woke up. Their motives may be selfish, i.e. “Let us out to go potty, then feed us”, but I still get kisses from my beloved dogs when I awaken.

4) I have shelter, food and a job. Some out there do not.

5) I love my job! I sell screws, nuts, bolts and the like. It tackles me mentally and physically every day. I get challenges to make delivery dates, to keep production lines and manufacturing running, and sometimes I assist in the design of new products.

6) My big brother is my best male friend. I love him dearly although I was born twelve years after him. (Oxy was an unplanned event). My life would surely be altered if he was not around. I talk to him several times a week. We are in different states, but not in different states of mind.

7) I have a great sister-in-law who helped me stand tough through some terrible times. She is a rock, maybe a tree.

I am in debt! That fuels me to work harder. I hate debt, but I like the challenge it presented to me. Can I live without #8? Yeah, I am convinced. But for now it is a real part of my life, and someday we will part ways. I will look back to all the things my friend “debt” has taught me.

Recently I proposed a plan to my wifey; to say “Have a nice day!” to at least six people she runs into during the course of the day, that do not directly interact with her during business. She works in a doctor’s office as an operations manager and deals with many patients on a daily basis. Those do not count. I requested that she say it to the gentleman or gentlewoman that held the door open for her, the clerk that scanned the groceries, the bagger that bagged the groceries for her, the gas station attendant, the person she gave her paycheck to at the bank.

We have become such a service oriented society. Somewhere we have lost some humanity in dealing with people. I have seen many people expect cashiers, tellers, or customer service people to be polite, but as a customer they feel they do not have to be polite in return. There is something inherently wrong with that thought process. We should live by the quote from Bill and Ted “Be excellent to one another!”

What did any of this information do to enlighten you on debt reduction or personal finance? Probably nothing. If asking for a lower rate from your credit card company, negotiating late fees or terms, just being sincere and honest will pay dividends not only to your bank statement but to your heart.

The inspiration for this rambling goes to Mrs. Micah and her awesome post today.