Have a nice day! (From Bucks Free Press)
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The perfect wife and mother, Rebecca runs a home, a village magazine and is working on her novel. She does not visit the gym or jog but is in amazingly good shape. She enjoys photography, playing the piano and arguing with the TV. She lives in Amersham with her husband and youngest child (aged nine). Her eldest, now 26, lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
Have a nice day!
10:09am Monday 16th May 2011
It’s started happening over the last month I’d say. At checkouts.
It’s happened in Tesco in Waitrose and M&S. I heard it on two separate occasions on the phone about online orders.
It’s not said with the same gusto as in America. It feels wrong.
In America, it’s said by a honey-coloured guy or gal (ex-cheerleader/baseball hero?) with even teeth and shiny hair.
Here, it’s normally forced out of some shy, young girl with greasy hair who’s scanning my super whole food salad dreamily and thinking about her chipped nail polish.
I reply, reflex-like, ‘Very well’. All people get from me is a grudging answer which is a lie anyway.
And more recently I was asked, ‘How’s your day been?’ “Well since you asked…”
The irony is, I know no one wants to know anything about me and I don’t want to tell them.
So what it leads to is worse than sullen non-conversationalist staff. A deeper isolation and remoteness The Americans do it with that natural exuberance; it’s part of their DNA I think.
Not so here.
Surely this is the country of sulky staff serving me with contempt, hating their jobs, the customers, their managers, shops and baskets in general, credit cards and the computerised till.
My discomfort lies in the artificiality of it. Maybe it’s because I’m not used to it. I don’t want to get used to it. I want to shop, complain or return goods without this chirpy well-wishing.
And all this well-wishing and artificial concern about my day means that by not conforming I’ll be accused of being unfriendly. Surely friendliness is what we want.
This isn’t friendly. It feels hostile. I feel like I’m under the microscope. If I visit three shops in the High Street and am asked how I am three times, it begins to be tiresome.
And then I feel I have to be grand and heroic in my reply.
“Oh, I’m terrific.” (I’d even have to use hyperbolic American language to answer). “Only this morning I scaled the council offices and talked a councillor out of jumping off the roof. An hour later I was answering calls at The Samaritans… My son is going to be on the cover of FHM and my daughter will be in the Olympics. How about you?”
She’d them have to invent something even more fabulous in reply.
Let’s just continue to be moderately polite and civil, that will do me. A half smile, that common look of boredom, the familiar look of disdain.
And anyway, what does it mean? Do these people think they have the power to influence my day? Or is it a ploy to make themselves look better? (‘Aren’t they kind?’) And yet I can’t find a way out. The more I protest, the more hateful and anti-social I’m going to look.
I’ll be accused of ‘not playing ball’, of hindering the national effort to feel good. When all I want is privacy; to mull over what I actually achieved last week/what to do with the left over porridge from this morning (porridge fritters?)/whether I’m doing the right thing with my life.
It’s imperialism of a very subtle kind. And I want no part of it. By adopting these new, little habits (aren’t they cool?), we sell out. To a far inferior culture.
We would certainly object if any other nation had such an influence in our everyday lives – why not America?
Well for now, goodbye and cheerio with a tip of the hat.
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Comments(52)
J B Blackett
says...
3:21pm Mon 16 May 11
.
It is and has been present in every British walk of life not just retail outlets. That's in music (a lot of our singers still sing with 'American' accents) , sport , scientific / medical developments , communications , transport , demographics, business methods and culture of all kinds etc etc.
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This would not have been so in Charles Dickens time , when Britain had a world-wide interests and influence and other peoples copied those ways.
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The Wheel of History turns and will never stop spinning - sometimes fast , sometimes more slowly.
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Language and its usage are just a small ephemeral of it. Language can not remain static - like various religions. Language has to evolve or die. In the meantime transient 'fashionable' modes of speech will come and go.
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There is no such thing as Eternal Truth.
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An interesting and well-written article , Bucks Bites. And I mean that sincerely.
J B Blackett
says...
3:23pm Mon 16 May 11
demoness the second
says...
4:35pm Mon 16 May 11
I get far more worked up by cold callers on the phone - I just tend to hang up on them.
Rebecca Leon
says...
4:59pm Mon 16 May 11
:
True, language does evolve. I still find people who use of French phrases irritating. But probably still prefer these to overused meaningless American ones.
:
Guess I'll have to live with it. ('Mon Dieu! Quelle domage...')
:
I've just irritated myself to a hair's breadth of having a fight with myself so am going to make a cup of tea.
:
'Avec du lait?'
:
'Bien sur.'
:
"That's it, guys. Lynch the goddam Frenchy chick..."
:
'Aaah, ma tete...! J'ai du pain, du vin...'
J B Blackett
says...
5:44pm Mon 16 May 11
.
Other languages in this land (except for local dialects and colloquialisms) diminished as they tended to be on the fringes, out of the mainstream and were not in a position to create their own new words for all that was going on in science , the arts and commerce etc.
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French became fashionable and was in some way adopted by the literati and high society during and after the reigns of the later Louis's. This was a period when France was becoming powerful and had a flourishing arts and literary industry. Some say the French had words and phrases (eg 'le mot juste') which the English language could not cope with adequately.
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So there is a still a hang-over of the use French words and phrases going to that period and after.
There were and still are however some class snobbery and one-up-manship reasons for this taking root.
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At first the ill-fitting combinations in the English language of the Germanic and French roots and derivations ( plus others of course ) did eventually result in a flexible and multitudinous selection of usable words and phrases far in excess of the 2 original forms of speech.
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The Americanizations you have high-lighted are just a continuation of the same process coming from a country that is still creating new words and its own lexicon (and spelling). America at the moment appears to be all powerful and some of its influence is felt via its language amongst other things. History shows that will not be always the case.
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At the moment it is almost unstoppable ; we have to learn to live with to some extent. The French tried in the 60s and 70s to prevent what they called the 'Anglicanization' of their language by inventing new French words for the things there weren't any French equivalents for.
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The project failed miserably. The machinery of the loom of language can not be halted by any government or 'movement' , although 'they' may try for political or religious reasons.
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C'est la vie.
NicM
says...
7:25pm Mon 16 May 11
The speech is one thing but spelling is quite another. I haven't work out how to change the default language on Google Chrome to UK English. As a result it is telling me I have already spelt 'programme' incorrectly (and spelt) and can't cope with colour, odour etc. together with anything that ends in 'ise'. It gets my goat!
KentP
says...
9:23pm Mon 16 May 11
.
I got an 'enjoy the rest of your evening' in Asda (other supermarkets *are* available) earlier on - I actually quite enjoy supermarket queue banter, which is strange, as I'm notoriously lousy at smalltalk in practically every other social situation
.
the American 'have a nice day' (specifically in a cheery American accent) has the same effect on me as fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard (which is, incidentally, a bit of an americanism *and* a slightly pointless concession to political correctness - bleh!)
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hmm, I've just read what I've written back to myself... in the tradition of sesame street: this message was seemingly brought to you by the suffix '-ly'
KentP
says...
9:36pm Mon 16 May 11
NicM wrote:I agree for the most part... I do find myself almost exclusively writing 'color' though, thanks to software languages being standardized (ha ha) with US English.
I think with the import of countless American TV programmes the use of their form of English is only going to increase. I would feel less uncomfortable if someone said 'I hope you enjoy the rest of your day' rather than 'Have a nice day' - the pattern of speech just seems more appropriate.
The speech is one thing but spelling is quite another. I haven't work out how to change the default language on Google Chrome to UK English. As a result it is telling me I have already spelt 'programme' incorrectly (and spelt) and can't cope with colour, odour etc. together with anything that ends in 'ise'. It gets my goat!
.
similarly, my spelling of program(me) depends entirely on the context of its use...
NicM
says...
10:00pm Mon 16 May 11
KentP
says...
10:11pm Mon 16 May 11
J B Blackett
says...
10:41pm Mon 16 May 11
NicM wrote:Crarse ? Cripes and/or Crikey. Aren't you scraping the bottom there ?
I think you should write 'colour' at least 10 times as punishment! Whatever next - pronouncing aluminium as 'al-oo-min-um'? Although I have heard that some citizens of this country pronounce grass as if it rhymed with crass. Whoever would have thought it?
NicM
says...
10:42pm Mon 16 May 11
You weren't brought up in the USA were you? :D
KentP
says...
10:56pm Mon 16 May 11
Rebecca Leon
says...
11:39am Tue 17 May 11
:
The Americans do that because they aren't equipped to deal with the complexities of the 'iu' sound.
:
Which brings me to the other thing I object to about Americanisms.
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JBB's fascinating 'flesh on the bones' thesis on language evolution, French ponciness and why it's unstoppable is one thing.
:
Our seamlessly moving to other American cultural sins (food, the biggest one) is to be resisted.
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High fat, tasteless mush - they have no culinary history at all.
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And the materialism has accelerated too. Look at us.
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Without sounding too old and unable to adapt myself, our interest in TVs, iPods and Pads, shiny appliances and anything you can buy and show off is also culturally regressive.
:
American too, I'm convinced.
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So although the language will move on, I object to the other aspects of their society. Don't want them here. ('Oh Golly...!')
:
As for supermarket queues, sometimes I can be persuaded to join in conversations, most times not.
:
Though the chat to a mature chap on Sunday was most interesting.
:
While his wife packed and paid, he told me how unable he was to be relaxed around women, how he would 'wind up' someone in an attempt to start a conversation and how he thought his daughter was an excellent driver but wouldn't tell her.
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That's the sort of conversation worth queuing for.
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What a let down to be asked by the checkout girl how I was today.
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And God forbid someone helps me with packing.
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Many will put all my tins into one bag and the newspaper and loo roll in another.
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Anyway we were told not to use 'nice' at school. Bland, meaningless, lacking impact.
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"Find another word!" I can hear my constantly irate teacher yelling.
Morag
says...
1:08pm Tue 17 May 11
:
High fat, tasteless mush - they have no culinary history at all."
~
The Native Americans might disagree with you on that one. Even a cursory glance at Wiki's "American Cuisine" should give you a quick history.
~
And to quote from "I'll Have What They're Having: Legendary Local Cuisine - The United States first developed as distinct regions isolated from one another, much like individual countries. New immigrants tended to settle according to nationality, forming tight urban and rural communities with strong threads of languages and cuisines. In each region, the people brought with them their customs and adapted them to indigenous food and ingredients. Americans have taken Old World cuisines and combined them with regional ingredients and traditions to create foods uniquely American. Local restaurants have kept most regional cuisine alive. Throughout America, local eateries revive and continue to redesign classic regional dishes."
~
I visit a different region of the United States every year. I am going to the Pacific Northwest this autumn. I can't wait to try all that wonderful seafood and I have already planned my tour of Pike Place Market in Seattle.
~
Still, it's good fun to slag off the Yanks, isn't it?
NicM
says...
1:19pm Tue 17 May 11
God forbid that we should put our rights to one side and accept our responsibilities. Oh for the 'don't make a scene in public, stiff upper lip' mentality.
NicM
says...
1:23pm Tue 17 May 11
KentP
says...
1:31pm Tue 17 May 11
.
ugh!
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oh, though I'm confused... what do Americans call socks?!
Rebecca Leon
says...
2:12pm Tue 17 May 11
:
And it gives vent to my unstoppable prejudice. Not a boast, just a frank admittal.
;
NicM: Yes forgot about the, 'If you got hurt, sue' ethos.
:
Did the FWD mania also come from there?
:
And this trainers and track suit clothing trend... And shopping malls (precincts?)...
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Blimey, once I get started, I realise how resentful about them I really am!
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Of course it takes two and those here who swallow it mindlessly are half the problem.
:
I don't know... I should say that although I do hold a strong grudge against them I have come across some very decent Americans. But sadly I cant.
Dandelionz
says...
3:06pm Tue 17 May 11
.
Maybe I'm just too naïvely trusting (highly unlikely... ask anyone!) but I tend to take the 'General Checkout Platitude' (TM) at face value.
.
More often than not the 'have a nice day' (or equivalent) comes AFTER whatever random banter goes on while both I and the checkout person would otherwise be staring blankly into space while passing groceries (oops... an americanism... I blame the wife) back and forth from conveyor to bag to trolley, so it's a bit hard to think it just an insincere comment after the social contact that proceeded it.
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Really... how does someone (who's probably highly bored and uninvolved by the relatively menial job they're doing) reaching out for a bit of human social contact and asking "How's your day going?" come across as hostile?
It's a pretty sad world we live in if people can't even say "hi" to each other and try and make a connection with someone for fear of spreading hostility!
.
As a final thought... in response to your question of "We would certainly object if any other nation had such an influence in our everyday lives – why not America?"
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America, and their culture, principally came from us and the other Europeans that decided it would be fun to eradicate the natives and take over. They took our customs of a few hundred years ago and ran with them. Can we REALLY complain when our grandchild comes knocking on the door with some blingin' new lingo to wow us with after having been pioneering and prospecting their way around a different country for a few hundred years?
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Oh... one more final thought, I personally would be much more worried about the bastardisation of our own language from within! Txt spk and a whole lot of slang seems to be quite acceptable these days, even in the OED. THAT is more concerning to my mind.
KentP
says...
3:16pm Tue 17 May 11
.
I guess the biggest difference is attitude... Americans are (portrayed as) super-polite to everyone, where as we British folk have a reputation as being fairly miserable
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I'm sure the Americans 'could give a s**t' what we think (which I use as it is an American term which makes no sense whatsoever)
Morag
says...
4:19pm Tue 17 May 11
~
Or how about the British – A selection of people you have complained about so far are the good folk of Amersham, other Mums, checkout operators (a recurring theme), you have avoided your neighbours’ party (but then criticised the crowd you chose to join instead), criticised the McCanns, slagged off your mother-in-law (oh sorry, I forgot she’s Spanish so that’s OK).
~
Am I seeing a pattern here? :-))
Rebecca Leon
says...
4:25pm Tue 17 May 11
:
You're using the word 'culture' loosely aren't you?
:And your point about them clearing out the natives doesn't endear me to them any more.
:
They may have taken English over there.
:
They've since over-processed it, mixed it up so we can't recognise it any more and are shipping it back to us now.
:
Leaves a bad taste in the mouth...
:
I've said it before on this space. Change? Fine. But at least let it be progress, improvement, a higher goal.
:
And (something just popped into my head as I was about to go) are they also responsible for the increase in smiling on TV?
:
That flipping Nigella and Brian Cox? Some woman yesterday on the British seas programme - could barely understand her so determined was she to show me her teeth.
:
Now I'm in for it... No friendliness AND no smiling... What sort of world does this mad woman live in???
Morag
says...
5:06pm Tue 17 May 11
J B Blackett
says...
5:56pm Tue 17 May 11
.
Since several friends and relatives have moved to the other side of the world, we seem to be oceans apart. I find it very difficult to communicate with theses Antipodeans as their vocabulary and turn of phrase increasing deviates from the proper usage of the beloved English tongue.
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I mean what on earth is a 'cobber' , 'swagman' or even a 'billabong'. I did hear some fairly young children using and even singing these words quite recently. Very linguistically subversive and reputably allowed and even taught in Bucks schools
.
And these faraway people's casual cruelty to animals is unbelievable. For instance why for goodness sake would any one wish to tie up a large furry marsupial with ropes then flay the skin off it and then nail it to a barn door.
Well that's according to a immigrant chap called Rolf (notice not Ralph) Harris who is one of 'them'
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You see - it not a recent or even just American colonization and corruption of our mother tongue. They are all at it.
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I heard someone say the word 'bungalow' in an estate agent's office the other day , which I think originates from the Indian sub-continent. Where's it all going to end I wonder.
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Adios
demoness the second
says...
5:56pm Tue 17 May 11
NicM wrote:Now Nic - I have to take issue with you here.
Trouble is the food they export is all about the secret recipe, golden arches, homogenous rubbish rather than the regional cuisine. And that's what most people will experience. We don't get the same rubbish imported from the Med - most risottos, paella, coq au vin has at least some character!
I have an American cookbook - think of a home made juicy burger made with 100% steak. Then there is jambalaya, meatloaf,all of the fish dishes like stuffed red snapper, crab cakes.
American cuisine is a hotch potch of so many different cultures and it isn't fair to write them off.
As for the other remarks re Rebecca's apparent lack of tolerance for other cultures.... come on people, us British mock others all the time. It is what we do. We also mock ourselves... no one cannot say that Rebecca does not do that.
At least her blogs give us something to really discuss and get our teeth into.
BTW Rebecca - the young man in the Tring Marks and Spencers advised me to have a nice day after I paid him for my groceries today.. Is nothing sacred?
NicM
says...
8:17pm Tue 17 May 11
The globalisation (globalization) of the brands are such that you can see McDs, KFC and Burger King all over the world selling exactly the same thing. I exempt Starbucks from this due to my caffeine addiction!
J B Blackett
says...
11:41pm Tue 17 May 11
NicM wrote:You may be interested to learn that when Colonel Sanders (the founder of KFC) died he was cremated.
D I wasn't having a go at their regional cuisine -not at all - my point was that their exported stuff, from which most people who haven't had the benefit of visiting the USA will draw their conclusions, is mass produced rubbish of the unrecognisable (unrecognizable!) burger or fried chicken variety.
The globalisation (globalization) of the brands are such that you can see McDs, KFC and Burger King all over the world selling exactly the same thing. I exempt Starbucks from this due to my caffeine addiction!
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But first they rolled him in bread-crumbs.
Dandelionz
says...
9:31am Wed 18 May 11
> "You're using the word 'culture' loosely aren't you?
> And your point about them clearing out the natives doesn't endear me to them any more."
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My point was that _WE_ (and other Europeans) went over there, cleared out the natives, took over, then naturally diverged from our parent culture. THEY didn't exist as a people at the time, you can't blame our cultural children for our actions.
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And yes, I keep using the term culture, in a very literal sense, not at all loosely, to mean any of these definitions.
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1. the attitudes, feelings, values, and behaviour that characterize and inform society as a whole or any social group within it
2. the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group
3. a particular civilization at a particular period
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The simple version being - "The group of people we call 'Americans'"
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Anyway, if you're generally 'Extra-phobic' then that would explain most of your grievances there!
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You're being a bit harsh at taking simple platitudes as a hostile incursion into your own private psyche though :)
Rebecca Leon
says...
9:40am Wed 18 May 11
:
And when I did slag her off, it wasn't because of her nationality, if I remember rightly.
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I'm the first to admit that I'm irritatingly critical.
:
But I don't think (as you hinted) I've put people into stereotypes by nationality.
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Are you seeing a pattern? Tell me what you see, I'm intrigued.
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I just want to stop the imported downgrading of this language.
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We all struggle enough with dealing with emotions and connecting with other people and using the 'Have a nice day' brush-off seems to exacerbate this, rather than encourage real human communication.
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NicM: unrecognisable globalisation...
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JBB: mentioning Col. Sanders brings to mind the current TV KFC ad.
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I laugh because the most they can say about their chicken is that it comes in fresh every morning.
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That's it. Not that it's free range, kindly reared or happy.
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'Our special eight-legged, six-winged, ten-breasted KFC chickens come in fresh every morning...'
usvelt
says...
1:21pm Wed 18 May 11
demoness the second wrote:Never hang up on a cold caller. When they call just say "ohhh yes I am very interested, can you just hold on a moment while I get a pen" Put the phone down and wonder off and carry on what you are doing, they will sit there waisting their time thinking they have a result. Leave it 5 minutes and hang up. Waste their time as they waste yours.
I hate the whole "have a nice day" thing but I don't mind a little bit of banter at the check out if it is spontaneous.
I get far more worked up by cold callers on the phone - I just tend to hang up on them.
Rebecca Leon
says...
1:54pm Wed 18 May 11
:
Obviously a professional hanger-upper!
J B Blackett
says...
1:59pm Wed 18 May 11
9:40am Wed 18 May 11
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"Our special eight-legged, six-winged, ten-breasted KFC chickens come in fresh every morning..."
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What the advert didn't mention was the lack of heads on these KFC chicken mutants.
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The same physiological defect applies to the KFC customers , I'm afraid.
Rebecca Leon
says...
3:00pm Wed 18 May 11
:
Might explain my BFP contributions (in some people's eyes...)
:
Though according to QI, chickens have been known to live some weeks without a head..
:
I don't know if they run around faster or more frantically than their 'with-head' counterparts though.
J B Blackett
says...
3:36pm Wed 18 May 11
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I can only put this down to the unidentifiable additives and chemical preservatives in the KFC 'food'.
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As I was brought up to an 'old style' farm I can also verify that the vast majority of chickens do not live much longer than 5 minutes after having their throats cut or even the head totally severed. There can be a lot of wing-flapping and squawking noises in the meantime - there is also a lot of blood.
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This is not true of the KFC chickens , as you have pointed out. The mutants having no heads or beaks (ie mouths) are fed intravenously or per rectum.
Rebecca Leon
says...
5:56pm Wed 18 May 11
:
I can also verify I did take the contents of my small fowl bucket orally.
:
I find you don't need teeth for this anyway, it just dissolves in the mouth.
:
Great security word: 'soft-okay'. Fine by me.
NicM
says...
6:01pm Wed 18 May 11
J B Blackett
says...
7:16pm Wed 18 May 11
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The birds only tend to show them when provoked or yawning as chickens sometimes do when bored or egg-bound.
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You have been warned.
Rebecca Leon
says...
9:48am Thu 19 May 11
:
Is this where the phrase 'stuck up' comes from???
:
JBB: I'm struggling to visualise a chicken yawning - from either end...
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Do they have the brain capacity to even get bored? Or is that a terribly human-centric assumption that poultry are stupid?
:
Can we change the subject now, I'm feeling rather queasy.
J B Blackett
says...
2:16pm Thu 19 May 11
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You are unwittingly participating in gastronomic experiment to see how cheap and awful food can be dished up to the unknowing public and how to make an even huger multinational profit for a relative few people.
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Hope you feel better in a couple of days. That's how long it takes stuff like the KFC gunk to slither and gurgle its slimy way through your digestive system.
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Your body will eventually eject it somehow , most of the time before it causes you real lasting damage.
Rebecca Leon
says...
4:36pm Thu 19 May 11
:
I ate my last KFC some years ago so would hope that the waste has by now left my body - I feel like it has...
J B Blackett
says...
6:00pm Thu 19 May 11
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You will never be totally rid of it until beyond your dying day. It is now part of you and you are stuck with it. .
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Sorry - you should not have been tempted to go in a place like KFC in the first place. And you seemed like a sensible rational person.
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Have a long healthy life.
Rebecca Leon
says...
9:44am Fri 20 May 11
:
You are certainly the voice of doom...
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On the other hand, I don't smoke or drink - at all. So maybe have the advantage of being less poisoned than the average individual.
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I'm sure we're all 'polluted' in some way aren't we? No one is wholly pure, are they?
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But it's frightening to consider how some people are so poisoned, it continually seeps out onto others around them.
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And they're not even KFC eaters.
:
How awful...
J B Blackett
says...
1:38pm Fri 20 May 11
demoness the second
says...
4:30pm Fri 20 May 11
J B Blackett wrote:Whilst clutching a handbag to the oversized bosom? :)
Ooooo-eerrr - listen to 'er. (to be spoken in a mock-Cockney accent)
J B Blackett
says...
5:07pm Fri 20 May 11
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And possibly a tit for a piece of tat ?
.
Is that you, Eliza ?
Mama36
says...
8:22pm Fri 20 May 11
demoness the second
says...
9:28pm Fri 20 May 11
J B Blackett wrote:Well I am doing very little.....
Her own, I hope. (ie The bosom), I mean.
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And possibly a tit for a piece of tat ?
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Is that you, Eliza ?
J B Blackett
says...
9:58pm Fri 20 May 11
demoness the second wrote:Well in that case - Wouldn't it be lovely if after dancing all night (in the street where you live) you got to the church in time to throw a custard in her face ?
J B Blackett wrote:Well I am doing very little.....
Her own, I hope. (ie The bosom), I mean.
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And possibly a tit for a piece of tat ?
.
Is that you, Eliza ?
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Wouldn't it ?
demoness the second
says...
6:50am Sat 21 May 11
Wouldn't it be luverly??
J B Blackett
says...
12:57pm Sat 21 May 11
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You sound like you need somebody who is accommodating. Don't pay less than £14o per week - otherwise it might not be quite so luverly.
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And get one that is not draughty and doesn't let in the cold night air. Oh and one furnished with a really big chair (amongst other essentials)
Latest Blog entries
The perfect wife and mother, Rebecca runs a home, a bad temper and is working on her novel. She enjoys photography, playing the piano and likes almost anything that's out of fashion and uncool. She lives in Amersham with her husband and youngest child (aged ten). Her eldest, now 27, lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
NicM says...
12:59pm Mon 16 May 11
However what is nice in the supermarket is to be greeted with a sincere smile, a hello and 'Do you need any help packing'. As I always say no to the last point I do not consider it to be a challenge to the checkout operator to prove otherwise and push through my groceries at Mach 5 so everything gets squashed in a big pile.
I think the fake American approach is condescending but a genuine smile and a hello can help to make the world a nicer place than the usual British surly way of trying not to communicate with anyone.
Obviosuly I do not expect anyone to speak or look anywhere but fixedly ahead in a lift, commuter train or tube though!