Contagious Diseases

People who are happy and bubbly fascinate me. I don't know where they get all this cheeriness. Well, according to my roommate, it might come from Sudoku, but I don't think that can account for all of it.

As a general rule these paradisaical people can be happy about anything.

Babies,
rabbits,

paper cups.

All will provoke a smile and professions of adoration.

And when they're doing the effervescent gushing, other people can't help but smile themselves. It's all so sweet and endearing.

Which is why I was so amused to meet someone who appears to be completely and utterly immune.

My roommate and I were in dire need of coffee, so we made haste to the nearest purveyor of mocha lattes.

When I order coffee it never occurs to me to say anything beyond the essential. I try to include all the information that my barrista needs lest I be compelled to speak to them twice.

Robin orders with the same efficiency; however, she continues to talk after she is done ordering. She loves coffee, she thought she'd try a new drink, aren't those cups pretty? It's such a nice day.

That sort of thing. It's all said with the kind of sparkling enthusiasm that regular people reserve for special occasions, like Christmas or a raise in pay.

Ordinarily this kind of chatter makes people smile and chatter back - it makes men think she's flirting with them. The man behind the counter was unmoved. He didn't laugh, he didn't smile, there was not so much as an amused sparkle behind his eyes.

I commented on the stoic when we left and my roommate told me she hadn't even noticed.

And I realized that this is why friendly people are able to go on being friendly. They simply do not notice when other people aren't friendly. I mean, sure, if someone were to start making threatening statements it might suddenly occur to the friendly person that they had somewhere else to be, but as a general rule friendly people do not register ambivalence.

If friendly people noticed how unfriendly the rest of the world appears, they would never have the guts to go on being friendly. It's much too intimidating. But since they never seem to observe this they just go on being innocently affable to everyone they meet.