These people have either a) never once worked in the service industry, or b) worked in the service industry so long they think anyone should be able to muster a dead eyes smile no matter how demoralized they feel, like they long ago had to learn to do.

Just go to work like this.

I temped after college and my first assignment was at a manufacturing company that needed a new front desk receptionist. The woman who trained me stressed several times that the president of the company (let’s call him Steve b/c that was his name) wanted the person who answered the phone to sound VERY SMILEY. On the…

I try to only patronize the grocery store that does provide chairs (well, crappy little stools, but same idea). Cause fuck making people stand, and I say this as someone who works on her feet as a teacher.

Good point. My ex was rude to wait staff and he hated my cat.

Seriously. There is nothing wrong with a neutral facial expression. If the person were scowling at you, sure, complain then. But simply not smiling? Fuck those customers.

They should go to France. Cashiers sit down, they will not bag your groceries, and they always seem like if you dropped dead it would just be an inconvenience to call someone to drag your carcass out of the grocery line. They seem angry all the time, but it’s fine. Get in, get out, go on with your day. They’re not…

In my experience, people reap what they sow. Maybe not right away, but eventually. So I would bet those folks have been impacted by the very policy bullshit they enforce. Karma, baby. Hope you are now in a job where people are treated like humans. Adult humans.

I heard a news story on NPR that the trend towards making employees smile constantly is actually causing mental health issues and burnout.It’s also causing customers to have unreasonable expectations.

I work at Whole Foods and got a customer compliant that I looked “Like I hated my job”.

That’s crazy. People can be very unreasonable. I once had a woman pop into the salon as we were closing and ask for a hair pin. She was dressed for a night out and her chignon was coming loose. I was happy to give her one. She wasn’t a client but she might be one after this, right?

Damn straight.

Yeah. I worked at Wal~Mart as a teen (tilde or die) after they took over a smaller chain where I’d been happily working for about two years.

“there was even one staff member that complained because they found out that one of the staff was a student working towards their teaching credential.”

In my experience that “manic cheerfulness” is passive aggressiveness. I’ve definitely done it before. But in my defense, it’s also the only way to cover your ass if you work at certain places and absolutely don’t want to be reported for, for instance, “not smiling with your eyes.”

I used to work in the hotel industry. I’ve heard customers complain that the staff didn’t “smile with their eyes,” and there was even one staff member that complained because they found out that one of the staff was a student working towards their teaching credential. Why was that a problem? They couldn’t really…

aldi is the only company i know that has chairs for cashiers, and i think thats awesome.

They’re not giving those retail workers money they’re giving a corporation money. A smile may cost that worker plenty.

I appreciate when employees help me, but I don’t need 14 different workers asking me how am I doing. I know there’s mystery shops (which offer nothing of value), but jeez. The problem is certain customers love the attention. “Oh they’re so nice at _____” even though it’s all forced from top to bottom.

This is why I liked shopping in the UK— They have this reputation for poor customer service but really what it is is that the woman or man ringing you up doesn’t bother to pretend that they’re excited about it. That’s a lot more comfortable than forced pleasantries.