‘It makes life so much nicer if you’re pleasant. It’s easy.’

Lynne Levario, 38, has a quick and contagious smile. She uses it freely, along with a helpful attitude, to sell stamps, weigh packages and rent mail boxes. Levario is not just another window clerk working with the public at the U.S. post office in Hillcrest. A badge on her blue uniform identifies her as “Hillcrest’s Happy Clerk,” an honor bestowed on her by co-workers. Levario knows many postal customers by name, including her “regulars,” and acknowledges that people waiting in line often vie for the opportunity to be served by her. Levario is eager to make the post office a positive experience for people who often dread it as a necessary evil. Times staff writer Caroline Lemke interviewed her at the Hillcrest branch, and Bob Grieser photographed her.

Just getting up in the morning, I tell God: “Well, here we are. Another day. Don’t give me any grumpy customers.” I treat each one differently. You can’t treat each customer as “Here is another customer.” Each one is different, and it makes it much more enjoyable.

Basically, I’m on the window all the time. I sell stamps, take in packages, rent boxes. The first six years I was on nights, working a letter coding machine. I’m adaptable. I can fall into any job and enjoy it, but I’ll take this over anything.

When I first went in after high school, there was very little automation. Everybody did everything by hand. I did that for several years, and that’s really backbreaking, even just sorting letters. It’s thankless. You’re not making anybody happy, you’re just doing the job.

On the window I feel like I’m doing something. There are a lot of elderly people who come in, and in a way this is like the highlight of their day. It’s great cheering them up and watching them leave happily when they walked in rather timid. It’s a different world for them.

You have to judge as time goes by, do they want that personal tone or not? When I first came here I thought, gee, I’ll never get to know the people fast enough. I was there four months and I was thinking there has to be a more personal tone to this or people won’t enjoy it. I couldn’t do it at first, but as people came by, I’d see their name on the package or something they’re picking up, or they’d say “Hello, I see your name is Lynne. My name is . . . . “ It comes with time. You get to know them.

It makes life so much nicer if you’re pleasant. It’s easy. I have my family; I have family problems just like everybody else. I have three teen-agers; you have to keep one step ahead of them. So there’s some days that you get out of bed and think, “Can I greet the public cheerfully? Can I do this? OK, it’s going to take an extra push today.” And I come in and my mind is saying, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this,” but I say, “Hello! How are you today?”

Because the public doesn’t understand. They see you as a window clerk. They don’t understand that you have the flu today and you’re feeling miserable. You can’t show them that; that’s not what they are there for. All they understand is the window clerk.

We do have our long lines, too, so I just try to move that much faster. There are, I’d say, on the average two customers a day that are really irritable. They come in and throw things at people, and that will turn me right away, but then I think maybe if I’m nice back, maybe their opinion will change a little bit. So I try my best, but sometimes no matter how nice you are, they don’t care. They’re not going to let it get to them. They’re not going to notice that you’re being nice. You just keep trying.

There have been a variety of things. Little old ladies who grab my hand and say, “Thank you so much. You’ve been so kind and really helpful. . . . You’ve made my day.” And your heart goes out to them. You want to watch them go out the door.

I wish every angle of the post office could be as pleasant as working on the window.