Say Cheese!

I was cleaning up the drink station at the nursing home today when it happened. Deep in thought about black holes and chuckling inwardly about how a coworker had mispronounced a resident's name as "Vultron," (there are no strings on her) I was jarred from my musings by two simple but unwelcome words:

"Hey! Smile!"

To which I replied with something akin to a baboon threat display.

Now I understand that when I'm waiting tables and interacting with residents, I need to smile. Normally in these situations, though, I also want to smile. I love my residents (most of the time) and I understand that as a waitress, I need to have a friendly demeanor about myself. 

But this instance was different. There were no residents, no tables, just me and my thoughts. And I was still expected to smile. 

Now I'm not sure of exactly what this man was thinking when he told--told me to smile. I'm not sure if much thought was really involved when he made the comment. Perhaps he just appreciates cheeriness from everybody. 

Or perhaps the comment stems from the idea that women need to be happy and content--and display this happiness--wherever they are, especially when doing what could be considered "housework." The funny thing is, I was pretty content at the moment, until I was told to look content as well. In an abstract of research I found on male versus female differences when considering the smile, researchers state that when men are given a little power over another in a social situation, they smile considerably less than women do in the exact same situation. 

So not only do men expect women to smile more in general when it comes to social situations, but women expect themselves to smile more too--even when they have been given the "upper hand" in a social situation. Perhaps this has something to do with the idea that women are expected to be more accommodating and warm to get ahead--even when they're already ahead. Because for some (of course, not all) males, their dominance in the situation is assumed.