Can I Hear Your Smile?

I had to call and check on a package that I was expecting.
Sometimes chatting online with customer service is easy and effective.
However, this time I needed to actually talk to someone.
This time, I needed to find out what happened to my order.

I got the shipment notification email.
I dutifully placed the order number in the correct rectangle so I could check tracking.
All that kept coming up was that there was no information.
How could that be when I was notified that my package shipped?

I called customer service and had all of my information handy.
Order number; check.
Date of order; check.
Date of shipment notification; check.

I stumped the person on the other end of the phone line.
I don’t know what happened, she said totally perplexed.
It’s as if it disappeared, she said more to herself than to me.
I was waiting for a pair of shoes for the upcoming summer weddings in our family.

That’s OK, I thought to myself, I will just walk barefoot down the aisle.
I smiled at the thought because I do not like to walk barefoot.
I guess I was still smiling when I answered some more of her questions.
I can hear your smile, the woman said, how nice; I don’t hear too many of those.

Hear my smile? I asked making sure that is what she said.
Yes, I can hear when people are smiling as I talk to them, she explained.
It makes my job a lot nicer when people smile, she admitted.
Well, I’m glad I made your evening, I said and I meant it.

I can hear your smile.
I thought about that statement more than the fact that my shoes were lost.
I am cancelling your order and you will see a store credit in an email in the next few minutes.
Disregard that because I am using it to reorder another pair of shoes, she said efficiently.

I knew that she knew what she was doing.
It was all a formality.
Somewhere between the warehouse and my house, my shoes were lost.
It actually struck me funny for some reason.

I answered another question and then repeated the new order number back to her.
You’re smiling again, she said.
I just find it funny that shoes I purchased for a wedding are lost somewhere.
I was glad that she could hear my smile.

I never really thought about it before, but the woman was right.
I took notice of it over the next few days.
Whenever I was on the phone, I determined whether the other person was smiling or not.
Often, they were not so the challenge was on.

If a yawn is contagious, is a smile?
If a smile can be heard over the phone, can a smile be caught over the phone?
How often does my voice give me away?
How often does my voice encourage someone else without me even knowing?

I did some investigation.
A study was done in January of 2008 at the University of Portsmouth.
A summary of the results went right along with what the woman said to me on the phone.
You really can hear a smile.

Smiling affects how we speak, to the point that listeners can identify the type of smile based on sound alone, according to a new study. The research, which also suggested that some people have “smilier” voices than others, adds to the growing body of evidence that smiling and other expressions pack a strong informational punch and may even impact us on a subliminal level…When we listen to people speaking we may be picking up on all sorts of cues, even unconsciously, which help us to interpret the speaker…Researchers videotaped the volunteers and then categorized their smile types. It’s believed that some 50 different types of smiles exist, ranging from triumphant ones to those that convey bitterness. For the purposes of this study, however, the scientists focused on four types. The first smile was described as an open smile “in which the lips are drawn back, the cheeks are raised and crows-feet wrinkles appear around the eyes.” Technically this is called a Duchenne smile, which may be the truest and most intense of all. The second smile type is like the Duchenne, only minus the “smiley eyes.” The third is a suppressed smile, “where the speaker is trying to hide their smile by pulling their lips in or down as they speak.” Finally, they denoted times when the speakers weren’t smiling at all. The audio for the interviews was then played back to another group of test subjects. Even without seeing the speakers, the listeners were able to hear the different types of smile the speaker made as he or she went through the interview. (excerpt from the lead author of the report, Amy Drahota)

As I read further, I learned that there is a motto in some customer service training.
Smile and Dial.
People really can hear a smile in your voice.
Smiling when you speak is really that important.

We all have had people talk to us and you know that their tone does not match their heart.
Tone is everything.
Tone is so important when we talk to our spouse.
Tone is so important when we talk to our children.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)

A cheerful heart comes through our voice.
Joy is heard.
A smile can bless others even when they are not able to see it.
Joy cannot help but overflow to our voice and that impacts others greatly.

One of my daughters gave me a very special present for Christmas.
It is a simple sign, made of  barn wood and old hand tools.
The hand tools from the letters of a word.
The hand tools spell: JOY.

The sign is in my kitchen.
The sign is in the place where I spend most of my time.
The sign reminds me to exude JOY.
Joy that is seen; joy that is heard.