Smile please... or be an Alien!!!

Hmmm….So, you have smiled 5 times today. At 5 dollars per smile, that will be a total of 25 Dollars. Please deposit the money to ISD as soon as you can!!!! Failure to pay on time attracts a penalty of 10% per day.

I am assuming this is how an alien reports to his/her master. ALIENS???  Yes!!! These aliens are amongst us, very much camouflaged amongst us humans. Like we see in the movies….. and the first movie that comes to my mind is ‘Men in Black’.

The easiest way to indentify these aliens is…..they just wouldn’t SMILE!!

Why?

Because their master charges them$5 dollars per smile and they are supposed to deposit the money to ‘Inland Smile Department’ just like we humans deposit our taxes to ‘Inland Revenue Department’ (IRD)

These aliens come in all shapes and sizes and of late something really interesting happened that has driven me to throw some light on this species that are growing in numbers.

Yes, also at times we humans don’t smile and understandably so, it could be because of stress, urban speed & prosopagnosia.

But then what is it that distinguishes us from these Aliens?

Here are some real time experiences with 3 different kinds of aliens that I have had in the recent past that will shed some light on one of their most common missing attributes. SMILE!!!!

Alien – Student

I must have had at least 10 face-to-face individual meetings and countless telephonic conversations with one of our students who not only managed to fetch a full-time position but has got her NZ Permanent Residency some time back. We used to cross each other on ‘Queen Street’..look at each other… exchange smiles and carry-on our ways.

For some reasons best known to her, she is not behaving the same. Seems like she has been ‘TAKEN’ or is ‘POSSESSED’!!!!!

If ever, we see each other now.. she just walks past me without a smile as if she doesn’t know me. Strange as it may sound, but it is very disturbing to see her having crossed-over from being human to an Alien :-(

And then fortunately there are those students who wouldn’t even mind crossing the road just to say hello or acknowledge your hand waves and responding with huge smiles even if it is from across the street.

  

Alien – Business Associate

Here is my latest encounter with an alien. I reckon this is the most interesting story :-)

I invited a Business Associate to our Institute to address our students. It was a good 2 hours session followed by quite a number of LinkedIn, email & text exchanges.

I am sorry but this was again on the Queen Street!!! LOL

I see him for the first time as we are walking towards each other. I wave and throw a big smile at him. He walks past… no response, whatsoever!!! Could be stress or urban speed

I see him for the second time, I smile and he walks past…cold!!!

Guess what, I see him for the third time…We are almost 20 steps away from each other and he takes out his mobile phone from his pocket and starts looking at the text message that he didn’t receive…and walks past me like a Zombie.

Nah… I don’t want to be mean!!! Let me give him some benefit of doubt; I know what he must be thinking.

“Gosh, I have a guy who even looks like an alien, waves and smiles at me every evening for no reason. Who’s he?”

:-) Ok.. my friend…you win!!

Alien – Colleague

There was a colleague of mine who just wouldn’t smile not just with me but there were many of us who felt the same. However, there was one thing in common with all of us who were being treated the way we were. We are all Males. He is always a happy-go-lucky guy, chirpy, excited & a smiling personality around the Females.

There was another colleague of mine, who wouldn’t even bother to answer your Good Mornings & Good Byes. Came in to your room and walked out like you didn’t even exist. (we were four of us sitting in the room!!!)

Guess what, he smiled one day…I was like WOW… I couldn’t believe what I saw. He smiled the next day and almost for the next week.. I made sure I responded back to his Hellos with a big smile.. It was great!!!

He caught me on the street one afternoon while I was out for my stroll after lunch and pitched me some of his Multi Level Marketing concept. He wanted me to invest money in their products and further sell their products and make more business members. I apologized for my inability to become a member.

And yes, you are right…he never smiled back again. We were together for almost 6 months after this incident.

Aliens come in all shapes and sizes, they are amongst us and they for sure have problems smiling. They are sick & tired of depositing their hard earned money to ISD. $5.00 per smile is big money.. I think we should all feel for them.

Guys we live in a country where on your third regular bus ride even your co-passengers start smiling & greeting you, you thank the bus driver when you get down on your stop, You smile & greet even the unknown people on your morning walk / jog, you always get a wave / smile back when you give way to someone (pedestrian / car) on the road.

It takes just a split second decision to become an Alien. Decide to stop smiling & you will be one of them.

Smile please... or be an Alien!!!