 Australian Andrew Biggs of the Bangkok Post wrote that in the past , the phrase was heard exclusively in Hollywood movies and American soap operas . He lamented that by the 1970s , Aussie teenagers were compelled to tell customers to " have a nice day " , a " blatant American cliche " . Biggs stated that " have a nice day " is " an idiom that 's been mashed and mangled over the decades " . 
