Several years ago I wished that I had started keeping track of when people said this to me. I began to wonder how often other people hear this and without knowing the answer I concluded that I might hear it more than most. Why? Because it is my intention to have a positive impact on the people I encounter throughout the day. I primarily hear this during brief customer service interactions where I am the customer, you know, on the receiving end of some service.

So what do I do?

I try to make people smile or laugh, or both. I frequently say out loud what people are only thinking and I capitalize on opportunities to make an observation, point out irony, or just plain make a joke. Many times I am just not getting stressed out about something that others would flip out about. Sometimes I simply smile and look people in the eyes.

I am not sure when I started doing this or when I heard my first “You made my day!”, but I know that when I hear this from someone I have a sense of satisfaction that maybe I had an impact on someone somewhere. I know that I can’t singlehandedly restore faith in humanity but maybe I can make that elevator, hallway, checkout line or whatever a little more pleasant for even just a minute or two.