"Hello!" she said with a smile. The lady at the checkout looked up. "Hello," she replied, with no smile. She scanned the items, as two-year-old Abbey watched. "Hello! Hello! Hello!" she said again, waving more and trying to catch the lady's eye. The woman looked steadfastly at each item being scanned. The lady behind me in the queue spoke up. "Excuse me, the little girl is saying hello to you."
"I know," replied the checkout lady. "But I already said hello."
Hello: a word whose dictionary definition doesn't come close to describing its real meaning. Sure, it's a greeting. But it's more than that.
It's a word recognised right around the globe, a word that will bring an instant smile to (most) faces both familiar and unfamiliar.
A small word that carries so much weight. "Hello!" - it can be bold and cheerful. "Hello?" - a question of uncertainty. "Hello" - a cheerful reply that can so easily regain confidence in a friendship or forge a new relationship.
It's a word full of promise. The beginning of an interaction, a conversation that could uncover anything. The beginning of a friendship.
And to this child - to my daughter - it is a word of security. Since she first learnt to speak, she has used this word as a gauge of people's feelings. When she's told off, she'll look in my eyes and say "Hello Mummy?" - her way of saying, "Is everything okay?" And I'll look back at her and say with a smile, "Hello, Abbey." And everything is good in her world.
She will walk through the shops saying hello to lots of people. And I wonder what she thinks when they don't respond.
Hello. A simple word that carries so much meaning. A word that does not, and should not, have limits to it.
*Sigh* Some people are so insensitive. I would have been like the lady behind you saying, 'say hello, dammit!' Otherwise, poor Abbey, and other kids like her, will stop interacting.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, hon. I promise: if I was ever to meet Abbey and she said hello to me a thousand times, I would answer her a thousand times. So important. xxx
I think one of the things I love best about living in a reletively small town is that everyone says hello. As I walked down the street this morning with my two little guys in batman costumes, every person we passed smiled & said hello & my boys happily skipped along saying hello too with big smiling faces...it's not hard to be friendly & it really does instill a sense of security, belonging & happiness.
ReplyDeleteOscar is exactly the same, constantly saying hello to me to gauge my mood/ state of mind. Bless him. Some people just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteAww ... the check-out lady sounds mean. I think you can tell a lot about people and how they respond to kids. It only takes a minute and a smile or hello to make their day!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame that checkout lady missed out on a beautiful interaction with your Abbey (and you). Her loss i say! :)
ReplyDeleteHappens with us lots too as the Bebito's fave phrase is, "Hello, how are you today?" when we go places followed by a massive grin. He looks puzzled when people don't respond. I don't understand why people can't respond with at least a smile. There are these little opportunities for happiness in their day that people miss out on. A small child grinning at me was appealing before I had a child let alone now. Silly woman! As Suz says it's their loss but I don't like the lesson it teaches our smalls....I wish the world would respond to their friendliness but I guess that's not the reality which makes me a tad sad.
ReplyDeleteOh I went through this with all 3 of mine. they would be so desperate to be friendly and say "hi" and be ignored so often. Every time my heart would break a little. I learned which shop people responded to them and shop there instead.
ReplyDeleteCheckout lady is not men, she's just tired and underpaid,
ReplyDeleteWe have had the same kind of experience at our local shop. I can't understand how anyone can ignore a happy little child who is saying hello to them. I often wonder what my girls think about people who do not respond.
ReplyDeleteFiona, she probably is tired and likely underpaid, but even when you are exhausted surely a smile and a hello is manageable.
ReplyDeleteWill says hello to everyone and likes to have a chat and it makes me sad when people don't interact. I have to say it is very rare - generally people seem so happy to chat to a friendly little one.
It's amazing how some adults ignore little ones so easily - such a simple thing to say hello.
ReplyDeleteHave just found my way over to your blog via Cat's and am off to read over some of your older posts...
That's hard. I get that people have other things on their minds and might just be having a bad day. But I wish that more people would allow themselves to be taken in by the pure joy, exuberance and excitement of a little one. I guarantee it would improve their day ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can clearly remember the weeks when Popps was turning three and she learnt that people don't always want her to say hello. The same week she asked me why people would not be friendly to her when she just wanted to be friends. The people were all adults, mainly those we encountered on random walks around the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteImmy is currently screaming hello where ever she goes, hard to miss, but the time will come all too soon when she learns too that some people are just un happy, uninterested and not worth her hellos.
love this post, soo very true and something we take for granted.
ReplyDeletewhenever we walk down the street, I like to say hello to people when they give you a little smile as they walk past. My little one asked why I say hello and I told her, it's just nice!
a simple hello can make someone smile, in your case of course...not that simple.
keep saying hello Abbey!
♥
It's awful when people don't respond to kids' hello or bye. It really hurts to see how sometimes my son tries and tries to get someone's attention and they just ignore him. Such a simple thing to return and make a child feel good and important.
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ReplyDeleteOh what a great post. I love that you describe 'hello' as the beginning of an interaction/conversation- it isn't an infinite word.
ReplyDeleteI see the world through different eyes now that I'm a mother. I watch my daughter learn about the world around her and I want everyone to respond to her and give her the attention she deserves.
I once had a similar experience when my daughter first started saying hello. It was the only word she knew apart from Mummy and Daddy. So when she said hello to the lady she was starting a conversation. She could only say hello, so that is what she kept saying while I browsed in the shop. She was trying to communicate with the lady but after saying hello two times she'd had enough. she began to ignore her and roll her eyes-choosing not to interact with my daughter. It made me so sad.
But that doesn't happen everyday does it? Most of the time. My daughter saying hello to the ladies behind the counter brings joy to their day and snaps them out of their mundane routine of scanning products.
I'm sure for every person that doesn't respond to Abbey there are 10 who relish in her youth and innocence.