Randman's World

Have A Nice Day! You hear it daily. I heard it twice going through McDonald’s drive-thru this morning. Then once at lunch, and once again in line at Target: “Have A Nice Day”

Have A Nice Day! Seems more like a command, doesn’t it. “Have a nice day”. Might as well say, “Despite anything else you want, I am ordering you to have a nice day”. To paraphrase George Carlin, maybe I don’t want to have a nice day. Maybe I’ve had 162 nice days in a row. Maybe I’m ready for a crappy day.

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for the drive thru person to say, “I hope you have a nice day”. No command. No forcing me to do anything. Just a friendly explanation of their wish for my happiness. That would be better. They can hope I have a nice day, but if I have a crappy day, their fine with that, too.

And then, there’s “You have a good one!”. One what? Day? Life? Cold Beer? Or, is it an observation on their part. “You have a good one!” Often my answer is, “Yes, I do. Thanks for noticing”.