Articles from December 2025
2025-12-25: Be nice!
Happy Holidays, everyone!
And a quick reminder: being nice is free. It is actually free, costs you nothing.
If you board a bus at the front, say hello to the driver. Even if you have a season ticket (D-Ticket, anyone?) and don’t actually have to interact with them. Just do it anyway. My experience is you get about a 50% uptake. Be it a nice word back, a wave, or a nod: many times, you will get noticed. (I live in Berlin. Berlin bus drivers are world-famous for being grumpy. They aren’t really.)
Say hi to the cashier in the supermarket. I get it that you don’t want to spin up a lengthy conversation (that would be impolite to the people behind you [unless you are at a “chatty register”, I am told these exist {which is great}]). A little goes a long way.
Say thank you to the person at the petrol station when they give you your receipt. Is it their job to do so? It absolutely is. Do it anyway. It’s free, remember?
All the people you interact with in your daily lives are people. They have their own little (and, sometimes, big) crises. They have partners, friends, children, parents, bosses, beefs, all the kinds of stuff you are dealing with; they have that too. Maybe they just got married and are on the top of the world, and the last thing they need is someone being grumpy and bringing them down. Maybe they are just going through a tough divorce, and they really need someone that is nice to them, to show them that that they are still noticed.
Being nice doesn’t cost you anything. It’s totally free to you. But it may mean the world to the person you are dealing with.
Be nice. Not just for the holidays.
