Have A Nice Day nosleep

This evening, I was at a convenience store a couple blocks down the street.

It was a convenience store like any other: aisles of products such as snacks, instant food, stationery and at the very back was one of those massive refrigerators that took up an entire wall.

After I’ve grabbed a bottle of milk and a pack of dark chocolate for myself, I queued up in front of the counter. There were four people ahead of me, all of different ages. The first one in line was a little boy, the second a teenage girl, the third an office lady who looked about thirty, and the fourth an old woman with a cane.

“Have a nice day!” the old man behind the counter said enthusiastically as the young boy handed over the money.

“Thank you, sir! I hope you have a nice day too!” the young boy replied with equal enthusiasm.

The young boy left, and the teenage girl stepped forward.

“Have a nice day!” the old man said with enthusiasm once again.

“Thank you, sir! I hope you have a nice day too!” was, again, the reply he received.

And this little process of exchanging, ‘nice days,’ continued with the office lady and the old woman, albeit with some changes like how they both dropped the, ‘sir,’ and changed, ‘thank you,’ to just, ‘thanks.’ However, they both reciprocated the old man’s enthusiasm perfectly.

I’ve always found pleasantries like these awkward. It’s strange how people are expected to repeat the same sayings over and over to each other like some sort of mantra to give off some sort of positive public image. Doesn’t it get kind of redundant? And with the exception of the people at the convenience store on today, most people will say it in a dejected and bored kind of tone because they have to say it according to social norms, not because they really wished their conversational partner will have a nice day. So, the level of enthusiasm that emanated from these people surprised me.

It was my turn to pay up and I placed the items on the counter to be bagged.

“Have a nice day!”

I merely nodded to him once and handed over the cash. He didn’t take it.

As my hand hovered between us, he looked at me, reaffirmed his smile after clearing his throat once, and said:

“Have a nice day!” his enthusiasm as great as ever.

“Thanks, you too,” I said quietly, slurring my words slightly while I stared at my cash waiting to be accepted.

The old man gasped.

I looked up and found that he was tearing up. Both of his hands were now on his face as he tried not to cry, but tears were already rolling down his cheeks. I looked around the store desperately for someone who could help, but nobody else was around.

“Sir, are you alright?”

No answer. In fact, his crying intensified as I said those words. I already had the items in the plastic bag that he handed me, and I was paying with exact change, so I slowly placed the money on the counter.

“The money is on the counter, sir, I’m sorry, but I have to go now.”

I quietly left the convenience store, and started the walk back to my apartment building.

Along the way, I walked by a patrol officer, who said, “good day, sir!” with such enthusiasm that it almost matched the old man’s. I smiled at him in reply and continued to walk.

As I approached the stairs leading up to my apartment room, the guard smiled at me and said:

“Good day to you sir! Ah, I see you have a friend with you today.”

I smiled at---

Wait.

Friend?

I turned around and nearly jumped. I came face to face with the patrol officer from earlier.

I was frozen momentarily out of surprise, when someone grabbed me by my right shoulder and spun me around. It was the guard.

“Good day to you, sir!” he said with a smile.

But his eyes were dead serious. It was the look of someone who was trying not to appear angry.

I felt nervous being wedged between the two men. All I wanted was to return to my room and enjoy my snacks.

“Yes, you too, and um, he and I are not together, so if you could…” I said as I slowly slid out from between them. I started ascending the stairs when:

“Have a nice day!” the patrol officer and the guard said together in unison with such enthusiasm that I stopped despite myself. I looked over my shoulder and saw that they were both standing on the very first step, beaming up at me.

I ran up the stairs, desperate to get inside my room and away from them.

But I froze once again when I got to the door to my room.

The entire door was covered in pink square notes, with the exception of the peephole and the doorknob, which had a yellow note on it. There were so many of these notes that my originally brown, wooden door has now been turned into a pink, papery one. Written on each of the pink notes were the words, ‘HAVE A NICE DAY!’ in red ink. As far as I could tell, no two notes had the same handwriting. The yellow note on the doorknob read, ‘THANKS! I HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY TOO!’ in what looked eerily similar to my handwriting.

I removed the yellow note, as it was in the way of the keyhole, and got into my room.

Mere seconds after I’ve closed and locked the door, someone knocked on it.

I looked through the peephole and almost screamed.

It was the old man from the store, but he wasn’t alone.

Standing to his immediate left and right were the patrol officer and the guard, but I could still see that next to them were even more people, some I recognize as residents of the apartment. Standing in front of the old man was the little boy I saw at the convenience store. They all looked at the door – no -- the peephole, and it almost looked like they were looking at me through the peephole as they smiled and said in unison, ”have a nice day!”

I backed away from the door and sat in a nearby chair, dazed.

Four hours have passed since I’ve entered my room. It is nighttime, yet they are still gathered outside my door, and every twenty-eight to thirty seconds they would say:

“Have a nice day!”

I’ve shouted the phrase, “Thanks! I hope you have a nice day too!” in reply so much that I have lost my voice. But still they will not relent.

I wonder how much longer they are going to keep this up.

I wonder what would happen if I tried to leave.

But most importantly:

I hope you have a nice day.

Submitted April 25, 2015 at 07:16AM by PrimalTears http://ift.tt/1OmtDHk nosleep