Quote:
Originally Posted by Magic_Marker
I do this because I view it as my cosmic duty to let people know they are not meeting my standards.
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While we're on this topic, how about people who tell you to smile?
Now, I'm not talking about your friends saying "Man, you look kinda of down, what's wrong? Yeah, that sucks, but you're really dwelling on it too much; it's time to move on" sort of thing. That's actually useful and expected from people who care about you when you are going through difficult situations.
I'm talking about strangers who I meet on the bus telling me to smile. Let me elaborate:
One day I was riding the bus home from work. Although I hardly have any idea what I looked like at the time- and I consider it irrelevant anyways- I'm pretty sure I looked like someone who had just finished working a long day, was tired, hungry and ready to go home to eat dinner and relax.
An old man in a dirty hat boards the bus at the next stop and strikes up a conversation with the driver. I'm sitting at the front of the bus so I overhear part of their conversation although I don't particularly pay much attention to it. The old man seems either really obnoxious or drunk. At one point he says something about bimbos, and at at that moment he decides to give me a good 5 second stare. Again, I am not sure what I looked like at the time but I'm pretty sure my immediate reaction to an old man in a dirty hat staring at me would be to give them the death look.
He turns back to the driver to continue their conversation. After about a minute or so passes he decides to turn around to stare at me AGAIN, and simply tells me to "Smile." That's it. He commanded me to smile.
Usually in these kinds of situations I'm so stunned that I can't think of something to say. I replied "I don't ride the bus to be told what to do, thanks," and then he left me alone, although I would've much rather said "I hope you get testicular cancer."
As I said, he might've been drunk, but I really wasn't able to ascertain as much, and this isn't the first case where I've run into a TOTAL stranger telling me to smile. I'm sure this happens to guys as well, but I think it probably happens to women more frequently because maybe there are still backasswards people out there who think we're supposed to be a bunch of submissive complacent sex bots who wear high heels and make up while doing laundry, and if we're not smiling constantly as if our faces were paralyzed to resemble Barbie, well then something must be
wrong.
So no, I will not smile for you. In fact, after asking me to, I will probably scowl at you. I apologize for ruining your perfect world where everyone is smiling all the time.
This doesn't really bite my ass anymore (I've gotten used to it), it's just something I was reminded of and needed to rant about. I'm a serious- (some say stern) faced person, but it's not because I'm unhappy- it's simply in my nature. I remember being told to smile when I was as young as 5, which confused me the hell out of me (why would I just walk around smiling all the time? I smile when I laugh). It's involuntary! And fake smiles are insincere.