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It was a weekend morning, and I felt grumpy enough, filling up the family car. It was a common fuel stop that doubles as a convenience store, meaning there's a chance of waiting behind shoppers with carts of slightly overpriced groceries. This is a dreadful thing to happen when your only desire is to complete a simple refueling. Awful.

Fourth in line I stood among those waiting. There was only person serving, a youthful clerk. There was something unusual to her presence. When the faffer at the front of the queue had finally paid for his purchases, a baked snack, and his box of eggs, It seemed to me that I heard the cashier wish him to have a great day. Odd. Maybe it was a mistake, or perhaps she spoke and meant it ironically. The thought crossed my mind if she might actually be a comrade in my battle with dithering, sharing my contempt for people who hold up simple fuel-buyers such as myself.

Advancing next, to third in the queue. The next shopper of the queue discharged her fuel-only transaction with impressive quickness. And there it was again: “Wishing you a marvelous day.” In fact, it was “enjoy a truly great day”. A stateside native? Here in Stourbridge? Her tone suggested it, and no British person says to others such a cheerful phrase, or merely a pleasant day. Highly unusual. You don’t get many Americans visiting this town, and definitely not working in petrol stations or elsewhere.

Now I stood second. After an elderly lady dealing with a right old battle with her basket, her food items, her wallet and her membership pass. This took an eternity. Once completed, the woman also was wished an excellent day. Clearly an American. I might have verified it by cracking a joke in her direction, to see if she did that response their typical stare, stoically, and state very earnestly: “You are very amusing.” Yet no idea came of a funny comment to say.

In the end, I embraced the genuine warmth – or a performance of it, that equates to identical in effect – as she gazed me right in the eye, deep into my soul, and told me to have a great day. My spirits lifted. A positive experience.