Just got back from casting my vote here in my sweet town of Madison where I inadvertently learned a great lesson. When I walked into the polling place I was greeted by a beautiful woman with the sweetest smile. She handed me the form and told me what parts to fill out. Witness the contrast of that experience with the rest of the story. I took my paper over to Lady #2, she briefly greeted me, looked over my paper, asked for my ID, Behind her was a worker looking for her diet Coke in the fridge and was upset because she didn't see it. Lady#3 is talking over her shoulder about the missing soft drink and what soft drink she had, something about a crochet project of someone else's, etc., never once looking at me or acknowledging me in any way as she scanned in my ID and handed me the ballot card. I took my card, cast my ballot, when I turned away from the voting machine - beautiful lady #1 greeted me once more with her beautiful smile and gave me my "I'm a Voter" sticker and wished me a great day. Which lady do you think left me with a positive impression of Madison poll workers?
What I take away from that experience is to never underestimate the value of a genuine smile, to pay attention to someone who is in front of you and focus on your job, not your co-worker or the latest discussion on anything other than the task at hand.
I have been a poll worker and I know it's a long, boring day that begins very early. So I understand chatting and having friendly conversations amongst yourselves and even the voters that come in you may know personally. But when you have a voter in front of you, it is your job to make eye contact, pay attention to that voter. Greet them with a smile, make them feel glad they came out to vote even if all you say is "Here you go, thank you for coming."
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