I don’t get that kind of stuff happening when I’m fine, but if I am unhappy nothing pisses me off more then ‘cheer up’ ‘smile’ or ‘smile. It might never happen!’
Ok, when did I ever say i was unfriendly or hostile?
How is it my problem that a shit-eating grin is not my default expression? I will smile at you when I am addressing you, when I’m wishing you a good day, or if you say something amusing. Not having a smile on my face as I stand around doing absolutely nothing, or am concentrating on some project, when you happen to walk by and catch me with a neutral expression does not equal me having a “dour and forbidding demeanor”!
Either find a career that does not require personal interaction, or learn to maintain a pleasant demeanor. Quite franky, you sound juvenile.
Get out of bed the wrong side this morning did we?
Smiling’s contagious, but frowning’s outrageous!
::SPANG::
Repeat after me: This is just my default neutral facial expression.
I dunno, guys. Just like everyone else, I don’t smile when I’m in neutral mode. Yet no one has ever walked up to me and said, “You always look so glum. Smile!” Perhaps people see you as moody and snappish. I don’t think the problem is with them. I think the problem is with you.
How well you interact with your co-workers (not just the customers) is something that is heavily looked upon when you are being considered for a promotion. No one wants a supervisor who looks like he or she is constantly brooding. People who look approachable and who are excellent people managers are the ones who get the promotions.
That said, would it really kill you all to lighten up? Sure, you may just “be there to do a job,” but I’ve made some really good friends over the years with people who were my co-workers. Customers can tell if you work in a good environment or not, no matter how pleasant you are to them. And I’m likely to spend more money in a place where I know the workers are actually happy to be there.
So get over it and make an attempt to be a tad cheerful. The world is not going to leave you alone about this. Your demeanor is making people feel not-good. I totally agree with Muffin’s argument:
Adam
Vice-President Cheney, is that you?
Now, we all know the correct respons to this is:
Oh, I’m sorry friend, you’re wrong. It takes 17 muscles to smile, but only 4 to pull the trigger of a decent sniper rifle.
I like to ask people if they got up on the wrong side of town this morning. 
I just have to say that I read this as “fart barking”. 
SHAKES: *You know how when some people tell you a joke that totally isn’t funny? Well, I guess what most people do is give the polite (fake) chuckle or smile. Me, I don’t, if you tell me a joke that I don’t find amusing the ONLY reaction you’ll get out of me (if any) is a :rolleyes:.
The thing I hate about this is, when people tell me jokes like this and they don’t see me laugh or do anything; they immediately assume I’m some sort of dumbass that doesn’t get the joke. So to annoy me even further than they already have, they try to explain the UNfunny joke to me. *
This is why you should do the polite fake chuckle or smile bit—it gets the unfunny dimwits out of your hair faster.
“Supposedly it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown; ergo, you should smile.
Happiness, it seems, is the lazy person’s emotion.”
Not sure who said that, but it seems to fit this thread.
If the public can see you, and if it matters that they can see you, your facial expression matters. Even if your default, relaxed, no outward energy-expended expression is just like mine (knit eyebrows, 1,000 yard stare and slight downturn at the corners of the mouth. Looks like a scowl and is thus unapproachable, uninviting and ultimately will be construed as hostile. Not anybody’s fault, that. Just a fact. If you are being told in however roundabout way that you look like shit, then you need to understand that you’re blank expression makes you look like shit. That’s not your customers’ fault, it’s yours for not getting the hint and making a change.
So if it matters that you’re getting seen, paying attention to your facial & body language is as important as remembering your zipper, shaving, combing your hair. It doesn’t count if you perk up when the customer approaches. If your first impression is dour, then you’re dour.
Deal with it before you become the subject of someone’s pit thread.
In addition to the benefit of it being faster, it’s also less rude. Unless a joke was truly tasteless, the fake chuckle is the way to go. Of course, if it’s a friend’s unfunny joke and not some mere stranger or acquantaince, he will be ribbed mercilessly.
If that were true, then they probably would be smiling, right? 
YES!!! THANK YOU!!! I too have one of those “miserable looking” faces, and I hate it!
Ever since I was little, people have always seen me and told me I look miserable, pissed off, depressed, etc. In high school, people would come up to me and say, “Don’t fucking give me dirty looks, bitch!”
If you’ve seen some of the pictures from last year’s Dopaween, everyone said I looked miserable. But I wasn’t-it’s just my normal expression.
(Besides, as far as pictures go, I HATE smiling for pictures, because then it looks phony)
But what if spizzum can’t do a handstand? Never thought of that one, hmmm? How insensitive, Czar!
spizzum, don’t try this unless you’re willing to look for a new job. Snarkiness never works well in retail. But if it gets too trying, wait for someone to bring up the way you look, tell them that’s just how you look naturally, then thank them for helping lower your self-esteem by pointing out your flaw. Good luck.
“But I am smiling.”
I understand, and that’s why I don’t work retail.
Fake it 'till you make it. Just try softening your expression some. Not a fake small, but just softer look. As you do so, people will react to you more nicely, which in turn might improve your demeanor.
The alternative is to practice being relaxed with buggy eyes. If you bug your eyes out all the time, it should sufficiently creep people out enough that they won’t say *anything *to you! Now, if you can do that with a smile, you may never need to suffer human interaction again!