My Latest Obsession

I've recently developed a new habit—even though it's a bit late in the game—of making sure to say "Thank you" to the driver when I get off a city bus or a tour bus!
Instead of just silently tapping my IC card and walking away, the moment I make eye contact and say it out loud feels incredibly good. Seeing the driver react with a little "Oh!" makes me think, "Yes!" in my heart.
What do you all do?
A bus driver's daily life is basically "salty."
They go around the same route from morning till night. They get frustrated by traffic jams, visibility is terrible on rainy days, they have to deal with drunk passengers, get complained at by rude customers, or apologize for change-making errors...
It's just a salty, salty, purely briny daily grind. There must be many days where they feel wrapped in a sense of emptiness, thinking, "I'm so tired today."

Isn't a "Thank you" when getting off just like a small teaspoon of sugar added to that?
The moment you sprinkle it on, the saltiness softens, and a gentle sweetness spreads.
For the driver, I think it's a mix of surprise—like, "Oh, they actually noticed me?"—and a little bit of happiness, thinking, "Maybe I was useful to someone today."

If you don't say it, only the salt remains in their mouth. If no one puts gratitude into words, the emptiness of "I was just a driver again today" only accelerates.
But if you sprinkle some sugar on it, the flavor changes.
It's not just salty anymore; it becomes a bit sweet and salty—an addictive flavor.

That's why I'm now completely in the "always say it when getting off" camp! When everyone on a tour bus says "Thank you!" together, the atmosphere inside instantly warms up, and when I'm the first to say it on a city bus, sometimes the people behind me follow suit, creating a chain reaction of "thank yous," which is the best (lol).

Sometimes, if the driver has a super stony face, I do have moments where I think, "I wonder if the sugar will even dissolve in this salt..." but I say it anyway!
Because my own heart gets covered in sugar. As a result, I'm the one benefiting the most from this.

Why don't you all try it too? At first, you might feel shy and your voice might be small, but by the third time, you'll be like, "Oh, this is addictive."
A life where you don't skimp on the sugar isn't bad, right?
In fact, I think sprinkling a little sugar into a world that's full of salt is a spice of kindness.

Why don't we make this obsession a trend together?
Let's find more friends to sprinkle sugar with!