As someone who used to work retail, I feel this. I have trouble socially and just want one phrase to mindlessly close out every interaction. I started with “have a good day,” but as the day progressed, I would get more funny looks or comments like “…what’s left of it.” I’m sorry, is after 6pm no longer today? Today is a day, right? I ended up using “have a good one.” While less formal, the funny looks and comments stopped.
People are funny. They think it’s strange that I say have a good day as it’s starting to get dark, but don’t bat an eye at the fact that I’m only wishing them a good day. What about tomorrow? “I hope today goes well for you, but fuck tomorrow.” Is the idea that they expect to see me every day? I deserve days off, too. I’m not going to be here tomorrow to wish you a good day, so maybe I should tailor it to my schedule to make sure you’re covered until I see you again. “I have tomorrow off, so have a good couple days!” No, I’d have to change that every day… maybe “Have a good time until I see you again!” is better. What happens when I change jobs? I don’t think I’ll see them again, so I need to make sure their days are good from here on out? “Have a nice life!” That’s worse somehow.
This reminds me of the end of sophomore year in high school. We were signing yearbooks, “Have a nice summer, hope you don’t drown!” Thanks for the positive wishes, but now I’m going to worry about drowning every time I go swimming!
It takes money and know-how to create and maintain a real website, but Facebook is free and requires little knowledge of how websites work. Add the fact that many rural folks still don’t take the Internet seriously, and you get businesses that don’t realize that they’re neglecting a useful tool to help them gain and maintain customers.
What I said before was a little exaggerated. An example of the experience: this weekend I was looking to order lunch in an area that I don’t frequent. There was a sandwich shop that I had been meaning to try because people rave about it. I tried to call to place an order and the phone just rang. No voicemail, just ringing. I went looking for a website, thinking maybe they’re closed on Sundays (I hear the owner is religious) and I find nothing but Facebook. The latest post was from November saying something about the owner having broken his arm, so they’ll be closed until further notice. So I guess they’re closed?
I move onto another shop who does have a website, but it’s bare bones: just the name, address, phone number, and hours that are probably outdated. No menu. Their Facebook wasn’t any help. I had to Google to find pictures of the menu. I called them and ordered. If I wasn’t willing to take an extra couple of steps, I’d have to resort to Subway for a sandwich… no thanks.
The usual experience is like what happened with the second shop, sometimes with a menu, sometimes it’s up to date. No online ordering, no Doordash. Maybe they have a new customer form to fill out to get a call back for a quote, but don’t be surprised if they don’t call, because they don’t check those messages because they don’t take the Internet seriously. They’re great at their job, but suck at current forms of communication. If you want to support local businesses in a rural area, you call them or just show up. It’s like the 2000s out here.