Boss Tells Young Woman She Should Smile More In Meetings, So She Puts On A Ridiculous Fake Smile, Starting An Office Joke

"Why don’t you smile more?“ is probably one of the least sexiest things men can say to women, but they are not aware of that.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• May 29, 2022

A Redditor going by the name u/tiancrow posted a question “AITA for giving a very silly ugly smile in meetings after my boss said I should smile more?” She also shared her story and it depicts one of the problems women in business have to deal with.

It may not seem like a significant issue, but it is. Her boss told her she should smile more.

That doesn’t sound too bad, right? But it kind of is.

So, by telling a young female professional with probably an excellent track record and years of experience that she should smile more in client meetings, you are practically reducing her to a sort of a hostess. Something like “your job is to look pretty, hun.”

We have to be honest and say that men probably don’t see it as a sexist thing. They simply feel that women are much prettier when smiling.

But they don’t understand that the women are not there to be pretty for them. Maybe it has to do with mommy issues.

Everyone knows that dads are there for fun, and moms mean business. We’ve learned in our childhood that when we see our moms with serious faces on, it means we might be in trouble.

And it kind of sticks with you. When interacting with a woman who has an extremely serious face on, men simply become uncomfortable because it brings back childhood memories.

Take a look at this story, maybe we can figure out the reason together. Let's begin:

OP asks:

She works in a tech consulting company and often has meetings with clients. Her boss told her she should smile more.

But he didn't ask any of her male coworkers to do that.

One of them sent her a funny smile pic

OP found it funny and decided to use it.

Her boss asked her what's the thing with the weird smile, but her coworkers backed her up

They showed pics of OP smiling and confirmed that it is her actual smile

OP clarified that she has a "normal" spontaneous smile, but her fake smile really looks that weird.

At the next meeting, her boss told her that there is no need for her to smile during meetings

Her smile became an office joke she now enjoys. But she wonders if she should have told her boss the truth straight away

Her office sounds nice.

Young women often get that kind of remarks

And not only at work

But it gets better with time. Why? Take a look:

Once you reach a certain age, smile is not needed, we guess...

Ah, the good times

Why are men doing this? Maybe the explanation is in the fact that men associate women with gentleness (mommy issues again?) and seeing a female with a serious face on simply derails them.

Well, whatever the reason may be, men should definitely learn to deal with it, and not make everyone around them uncomfortable just because they are feeling uncomfortable around women not smiling.

Damjan