"Have a blessed day"

I grew up in the Bible Belt, and am used to people proselytizing in all kinds of different ways; some of them completely inoffensive, some of them merely annoying, some of them deeply intrusive.

In the last few months, however, I have noticed a new entry in the "merely annoying" category: on my monthly trips to Raleigh, service workers everywhere (the drugstore, the grocery store, the drive-thru window of the place I buy biscuits for breakfast) are urging me to "have a blessed day."

This is, again, a recent phenomenon in these parts, and it makes me wonder whether there is a coordinated effort of some kind by some local, regional or national organization to make this happen. I don't have time to research it right now, though, so I'm just reporting my field observation.

This morning, as I was loading up on country-ham biscuits at the drive-thru, the counterman smiled sweetly as he handed over my bag of cholesterol bombs and told me to "Have a blessed day."

He was a little nonplussed by my reply.

"Oh, thank you, but I have other plans. You have a good one, now."