SHOUT OUT to the smiley face.
Years ago, I worked for a pretty prestigious news organization.
My job entailed writing and working with the production guys to help with ad copy. Being the little ray of sunshine that I am, I used a lot of exclamation marks, smiley faces and… I dunno, probably hearts.
Unbeknownst to me, I was bugging the %%$ out of the production guys. One, in particular, was a cranky curmudgeon who emailed me and mentioned words like “trite” and “irritating” in regards to my correspondence to him.
Shame is a funny thing.
My biggest fear has always been looking stupid.
Not too original, but there you are. He hit the bullseye. My vulnerable underbelly, and I started really censoring my emails. Ok, it wasn’t a bad idea to reign it in, IF that’s what I wanted to do. It never seemed to affect my client relationships. I know this because I was one of the top sales producers in the organization.
Here’s the thing. We have enough snark in the world!
Bring on the smiley faces, the “xo”, the hearts, clapping, whatever. BRING IT ON. It takes raw courage these days to look for the light when there’s so much gray and darkness in the world. I choose the Smiley Face.
How about you?