At physical therapy, a strange man told my sister to "smile!"

Can you believe that?

Reader's Digest version: She told him, "It's OK to be unhappy." He left without looking in her direction. :rofl:

Fellow DU-women, what do you say when a total stranger tells you to "Smile?"

I got admonished by another shopper for buying candy "with fat and sugar in it" at the supermarket this week. Even funnier because the cart was full of birthday party stuff like balloons, wrapping paper, and streamers.

I effin' hate that when people tell me to smile! :grr:

and 43 to frown.

My response was "But with those 7 you are fighting gravity"

"And how many does it take for a relaxed, neutral poker-face?" but I've never had the opportunity :P

It's a way for them to enforce their power over women (unless I'm mistaken, men really don't tell other men "Smile!").

You're screwed either way.
-If you smile you obeyed their command.
-If you don't you're an uptight bitch.

But I doubt it's a way of enforcing power over women. Sounds more like a crude attempt at flirting to me.

It's pretty obnoxious when you think about it, basically commanding someone to smile. It assumes you have the right to ask someone, generally someone you dont know, to do that.

Generally, no strong woman who has good self esteem would respond to that.

While I was strolling through the park, a Chicago cop on a three-wheeled motorcycle told me to smile.

I replied, "A smile is a response to a stimulus. Am I supposed to respond to non-existent stimuli?"

He muttered, "Must be a sociologist," and rode off.

"i am not required to maintain a pleasant expression on my face at all times so that YOU will be happy."

or similar to that effect....

And everyone knows it's our job to be pretty for men.

Oh no, now I've created an earworm for myself...which I will share:

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright!"

:puke:

My earworm died when it heard that. Thanks!

that earworm of yours sucked!! :rofl: :hi:

when he informed her that "God wants you to be happy." We were running around the day before Christmas trying to get the couple of last minute things for Christmas dinner when we ran into this idiot in the supermarket. He greeted her warmly and asked how she was - and she told him - tired and miserable because of the holiday. That's when he pulled out the "god talk". My response: "Oh, not my god, well goddess actually. I worship Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of war, plague, death and destruction. She doesn't really care if you are happy or not - just that you are crunchy and taste good." The guy backed up 3 steps, muttered something about needing to get home and left. I'm told that the story was still making people smile (the gentleman was well known in town and not particularly well liked apparently)for days afterwards and 6 months later I ran into one of the cashiers who had been working at the time and heard the exchange and she congratulated me on routing him.

I must have have looked crabby all the time or something, because before I became old and invisible, strangers (always men) often used to tell me to smile. My response was usually just a blank stare or "huh?" Now that I am old and invisible (although I probably would still look crabby if anyone could see me), nobody tells me to smile. This is a bit disappointing because one of the benefits of being old is that you don't hesitate to say "fuck you" if you feel like it, and I wish somebody would tell me to smile so I could tell them to fuck themselves.

There. Tear me apart. I understand the value of a good catharsis. :)

:hi:

I ignore them, otherwise I'd be tempted to tell them to fu** off.

trying to process what this stranger is demanding of me. never came off well.

This must be a lot more common than I would have thought.

older than me.

generally stand there with mouth open... what to say. not much into forced smiles

just a whole new world for you, huh? lol

I am a very moody person . . .

if I am in a good mood I would probably smile and give the guy a wink. ;)

if I am in a silly, flirty mood, I might stick out me tongue. :P

however, if I am in a spectacularly shitty mood I might snarl at the dumb ass. :mad:

most women's reactions would probably also depend, to at least some extent, on the guy asking for (demanding?) the smile.

garage. A woman who I thought I knew walked past me and said "try smiling". I turned and looked at her and realized it was Marsha Mason. She said "really, smile". So I did. :-)

But whenever someone did, it was a guy, and usually considerably older than me. It always startled me, so I guess I reacted like seabeyond - just looked surprised that anyone would say that.

Then again, if it were a nice looking guy and he said it and followed up with a joke or something, I'd probably respond with a smile. But that never happened. :(

Smiling is contagious. Besides, you'll have plenty of time to practice your grumpy face when you die.

Grumpy people are depressing. I don't usually tell people to smile in their presence, but I do make a conscious effort to disassociate myself from unhappy people.

(99 out of a 100 times, they're not. )

smile at them first. :-)