A MacDonald's drive through. I roll down my window and hand over the money.
"Umm, I-I think that's enough?" I stammer.
The twenty-something with greasy hair stuffed under a rumpled cap gazes back at me.
She seems equally unsure about the existence of the money.
After a moments pause, she cautiously lifts it from my hand.
She avoids my eyes, just as I avoid hers. She counts the money and puts it in the drawer.
I shift uneasily in my seat. I reach up to scratch my head, but change my mind and put my hand back in my lap.
Announcing the amount of change I've earned, she holds it out.
With a start, I realize that she wants me to take the money from her. I rush to cut the awkward silence short and almost knock the change from her hand.
"Have a nice day." She says. She attempts a nervous smile.
She glances at me for a millisecond, uneasy, then spins back to her register.
Trust me friend, I speak with experience when I say:
People feel more comfortable around you if you act with confidence.
The reason for this has eluded me for most of my life. However, after the experience conveyed above, I have a hypothesis which I believe is logical.
Every person on earth knows, deep in their subconscious, that someday, the world will end.
That's right.
And this knowledge creates a tiny anxiety in the back of their minds. Like an itch on the back of their neck. Or a dog barking incessantly four houses down while they are trying to do their taxes. The anxiety bothers them, but not quite enough for them to know it's there.
When they converse with someone who behaves with confidence, they get the impression that this person knows that the world won't be ending just yet. They gather that this person must have somehow come upon knowledge of the inner workings of the universe. Therefore, that nagging anxiety about the end of the world is momentarily put to rest.
However, when they speak to someone like me, who acts uneasy and confused, that nagging anxiety is confirmed. They begin to worry that this person might know something they don't.
Fear builds up inside them. Perhaps the world will end now... or now! Goodness!
They long to speak to that confident person again so they can stop imagining the parking lot opening up and swallowing the entire restaurant.
So that's how it happens. I'm pretty much positive. Maybe.
