The smile you smile

There is this customer at work. She isn't a regular, but she does come in from time to time. She is an elder lady probably in her 60's and is always with her husband. The thing about her is that she has never smiled at me. Some people were born smilers, or maybe they are just happier than most, I don't know. But this lady isn't one of those. She just seems to have one of those faces that doesn't smile on a regular basis. Sure, she smiles when around friends of hers, but to me, the unknown server of her coffee, a smile has never been received. That may sound weird, after all, probably a majority of the customers don't, and I most surely am not always smiling back either. But I kind of know her, not personally, but of her, and we know a lot of the same people. She knows all my friends, and they all know her. So I guess I kind of feel like we should have this connection or something, but no one has introduced us (not that they really have any reason to), and so to her, I am just there to serve coffee. So I serve her like usual, maybe with an extra bit of courtesy thinking that we might know each other someday and want to have a good reputation to build off, and she isn't particularly rude at all, but she isn't nice in any way either. Then my friend Caleb (whom she knows) will walk up and she will be all smiles and friendly as ever. Then, done with Caleb, she turns back to me in her non smiling, borderline frowning face. It seems to be this way every time I see her. This kind of gets to me: I want a smile. She seems in short supply of them, but I want one. I want something about me to be able to bring out a smile in someone else, and no better person to try on than a person who is not a habitual smiler. Her husband is all smiles and as friendly as anyone, and has even introduced himself to me, but her, a smile seems to rarely crack except for good reason. So I have a goal; make this woman smile at me, and at me only. And not just one of those yeah I'm pretending to be nice, fake smiles (I don't think she does those anyways, which might be a good thing), but a real genuine I am happy you are a part of my life at this moment smile, which is probably rarely given to a stranger from anyone. I have some rules for this goal which are these:

1. I can't use the "we know the same people" approach. Thats too easy and anyone smiles in a situation like that.

2. Likewise, I can't be introduced to her. I won't allow it. Everyone smiles when introduced, or at least they should. After all, the best way to make a good first impression to people is to be smiling. No one likes a frowner.

3. She can have no preconceived notion of me being someone she should be nice to. I must be a complete stranger. I have to bring out this smile by my simple charm and nothing else. This may be difficult to uphold since she has seen me a number of times now and even in places outside the coffeeshops employee-customer scenario, but a smile was not received there either.

So there you have it, my latest goal in life, to bring a smile out in an elder lady. I hope it doesn't sound like I am trying to get a smile from an old hag or anything like that. I know of nothing but good things about this person and she is no doubt as friendly as I am. I know plenty well that I am not all smiles, especially during my commute to and from school when, after a late night of homework, I want people on the bus to just leave me alone and sit next to anybody but me. But these are just my personal experiences with her thus far, and I want to change them myself without the help of others. It should probably be a regular practice to try to make people smile, but lets just start out with this. I don't know what I will do to achieve this the next time I see her, but I hope something will come to me. Wish me luck.