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Where I work there is a man who picks up the trash, cleans the windows and
cleans the floor.
It’s hard to tell exactly how old he is. His accent sounds South American,
but I couldn’t say exactly where.
Every time I walk past him, he says the same thing:
“How is your day, sir?”
“It is going OK,” I usually respond. “How is yours?”
“Mine is very good,” he always says. “I hope your day is good for you.”
“And yours as well.”

As I was heading back to the building where my office was, he was cleaning
the windows on the door. I waited for him to do it as he was working very
hard at it. He was standing in the foyer with the hot sun on him and
scrubbing the windows to get a spot off of them.

“You do a great job!” I told him.
“Thank you, sir!” he replied. “I do my best.”
“You must really like doing it if you do it in the hot window area like
that,” I said

“Where I come from it is always hot, so I do not mind.
“But, I never planned to do this with my life.
“I grew up in a little village on a farm. I thought I would spend my
entire life there.
“One day, men with guns came there and killed 20 people. I never found out
why.
“I said ‘this is no way to live’, so I left there and now clean windows
here.”

“I am sorry you had to go through that,” I said.
“As am I,” he said. “But, I am happy to be here cleaning the windows.”
He wished me a good day, and this afternoon a good holiday weekend.

I have switched what I say to him.
Now when he asks me how my day is going, I say “very good”.