I ask everyone how he or she is doing.  And 9 out of 10 times I even have a smile on my face when I do it.  It’s called being pleasant … and it’s a lost art.

This morning I walked up to the gate agent at the United Airlines counter and said, “Good Morning!”  He looked at me like I was speaking in Japanese.  He then sputtered, “Uh, good morning”, like his mind couldn’t quite grasp the right response.

I then said, “How are you?  You good?”

Cue the blank stare.  Cue more stammering.  And then finally I got a hesitant, “Yeah.”

I’ve found, more often than not, that you get much further in life by being polite and/or considerate.  It’s not brain surgery, people.  For instance, I had a dreaded aisle seat on my flight today.  All I really wanted was a window seat.  (I’m very OCD about where I sit on a plane.   That would probably explain why I’ve survived so long flying across the globe.  Well, that and none of my planes have ever crashed.)  I figured if I was going to ask for a window seat, I might as well as for the coveted exit row as well.   Couldn’t hurt, right?

I said, “Sir, if it’s at all possible, may I please have the exit row?   That would be ideal.   Window seat preferably.  I’d really appreciate it.”

There was a flurry of furious typing … and a hint of a furrowed brow.  And then … viola’ … I scored seat 12A for BOTH of my flights.  I said, “Thanks, dude!  You just made my day!  Have a great weekend, my friend.”

The look on the gate agent’s face was classic.   He acted like he had just seen a unicorn.  Perhaps he’s heard about pleasant passengers, but never actually experienced one in the wild.   Guess today was his lucky day.

Of course, I’m writing this blog gem from my cushy window seat in the exit row.  I think better and type faster when I can stretch out.  The smile on my face is because I realize charm works wonders.