As an early 90’s millennial, I’ve never noticed a “gen z stare” as described in news articles like a “blank face that shows lack of social skill or ability to think”. The only times I’ve witnessed it happen and seen the older person accuse them of “gen z stare” is when the older person says something off hand or dumb but isn’t self aware enough to realize they’re being weird. Hell, I’ve given people a blank face countless times because I was taught it was better to say nothing at all sometimes. Especially when it came to talking to older people at work.
I remember when I was 16, some middle aged guy at work accused me of having no personality. In reality, I kept all conversations short as possible with him (like almost everyone in the store) because they were casually racist and misogynistic.
Generally, what works for me is to say it like you mean it. Say it like they just walked across the store to pick up a can that rolled off your cart. throw a little ‘unexpected’ in there, light smile, and then tell them to have a good day. If you don’t sell it, they’re going to assume you’re going through the motions just to feed the machine. They’ll blip back to you for a second from the next mundane task, get a smirk or a little grin, and say you’re welcome. Then GTFO, don’t tie em up, don’t make em think you’re flirting.
I doubt it makes their day noticeably better. It hasn’t seem to make them noticeably worse. They’re probably burned out and don’t want to emotionally invest further into their job.
Might this be an extravert thing? Do extraverts enjoy being told to have a good day?
I prefer not to, and I also don’t want to be told to smile. I’ll put up with banalities like “Hi” even when there’s no need to actually get attention, and “Thanks” when the person clearly isn’t thankful; but if asked “How are you?” I might actually answer and they probably won’t like my answer if they didn’t mean it.
Maybe introverted people put more value in honesty and not wasting time?
Dunno, I’m an introvert who’s gotten better at extrovert cosplay over the decades
You know… it’s a courtesy. I do mean it - for what it is. Thanks for handing me my change. I’m not going to fire up my acting chops to “sell it” like they did something extraordinary if they did not.