don't forget to smile

[mireka]

so i'm annoyed because i just got back from mcdonald's and a guy at the drive thru window was harassing me about smiling
he said, as i handed him my debit card, "smile! do you not like to smile?"
and being told this a lot in my life i said no
he says "what's wrong are you okay??" like yes dude i'm fine, i don't know you, mind ur biz
he says "have a great day! don't forget to smile!"

i've always been told to smile because i have a sad looking face and it makes me mad

my question is: do people/strangers ever tell you to smile? how does it make you feel when they do?

 

[EC]

I remember back in yearbook class, my friends asked me why I never smiled in any of the photos, and I said because my teeth were (and still are) horrible.

 

[Honest]

Eh, never really been told that myself. Ik for a fact that a fair few of my lady friends have though.

 

[pastelspectre]

i've been told to smile more often yes but like i can't smile on command lmao. it gets annoying bc when i just have a resting face everyone assumes i'm ever mad or sad

 

[Goo]

Oh I hate this. Its the worst thing ever, like I exist to smile so other people are comfortable. It happens a lot at work or like if I'm tired. I think the worst of it is in America. I always felt there was a culture of hiding feelings behind a mask of happiness and it was borderline offensive to others if one was to scowl to themselves. People should let other people feel.

 

[moon]

I'm the annoying prick who tells others to smile :D

 

[gimmepie]

I've been told to smile more a lot.
Good luck with that people.

 

[MarinaSpeaks]

I feel like I'm lucky in the sense that I actually smile a lot. I worked at a restaurant a year ago, and many of the customers really liked me because I was really friendly and smiled a lot. However when I'm in a bad mood people notice because they read my face, and then they feel inclined to ask me about it. I don't think people do this with any ill-intent and I think they just want to help, but it can be pretty annoying to deal with at times.

 

[Alakazam17]

^ In my case people know that I'm in a bad mood if I'm abnormally quiet. The smile disappears as well, but that's a secondary clue. xD

Though in general I've been told to smile a bunch of times, especially in a workplace setting because it makes the customers feel more comfortable. And they're probably right, as with a frown on my face I probably come off as rather scary. >:) On average though I'm somewhere in between.

 

[Bellsprout]

Yeah I have a strong resting bitch face so I know how you feel. Once I found this article online about how to deal with people telling you to smile and it said to just be friendly and say you have resting bitch face rather than getting annoyed or upset. So a few weeks after that I went to the liquor store and as the doors opened this lady walked out and said, "smile." So I smiled and said, "oh haha I just look angry... I have resting bitch face." And she literally said nothing and walked away LOL

 

[Aslan]

Only once - there was this kid a few grades below me in primary school who thought I looked scary because apparently I never smiled in his opinion. I did smile a lot so that took me by surprise. It was kind of irritating that he would tell me to smile almost every time I saw him but he was 7 or 8 so I tried not to give it too much thought. Maybe I do look really done though when I'm not making an effort to smile, who knows. :D

 

[Corrin]

They did when I was younger, but not so much now.

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

Not really, unless I have a bad case of resting bitch face.

 

[Altairis]

I don't think I've ever been told to smile by a stranger. I don't think I'm cute enough where random dudes would care if I did or not lol

 

[Ida13]

I don't like it. They are strangers, why do they care? It also appears fake and rude.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm someone who feels like they don't have a natural smile, since I often have to laugh to show my smile. It's a reason why I dread having my photo taken, because I'm worried my face will ruin the photo.

You have to always make me laugh or I just can't smile at all.

 

[an illegible mess.]

when i worked in customer service, many customers, especially ones that KNEW they were irritating me, asked me to smile. i never did, i kinda just shrugged and ignored them. it's not that i'm a mean person, i just don't like smiling. i think my smile is ugly lol. also, if someone's being obnoxious and rude to me, why should i smile out of courtesy? they don't deserve to be treated nicely if they're not treating me the same way.

 

[haigiacmo213]

Not really, unless I have a bad case of resting rattata face.

 

[Metatron]

i purposely make myself as unapproachable as i can irl so i can avoid people saying this sort of gay shit to me lol

 

[Sawsbuck]

No but I don't always smile because I usually come off as a psycho or a smug douchebag at times (it also doesn't help that I kinda have fangs)