Smile

"Go on, give me a smile."

"You'd be prettier if you smiled."

"Give us a smile, beautiful."

"It would be more professional if you smiled."

"Such a pretty girl, pity you don't smile more often."

"Uh uh uh, I won't let you go without a smile."

"You know, a smile would do wonders for your face."

As a woman, I must be told to smile at least five times a month nowadays. I have a job that doesn't require me to work a front desk every single day. However, for about 10 years I worked front and center at several jobs and directly with every client. For 10 straight years, all I heard from every man without fail was "just smile".

If you're reading this, and you're not a woman, I want you to image that. That every day, sometimes multiple times a day, someone comes in and looks you up and down and tells you to smile and won't stop saying it until you actually do it. Then they might tell you that it was too forced and to do it again. And just to shut them up and get them on their way, you smile.

It's not just the action that's humiliating, it's that fact that they use a voice that makes it seem like they're talking to a child.

For a moment, you're reduce to nothing more than a performing monkey with lipstick. Doesn't matter what you're doing, if you're busy, or if you're wearing a face mask because there's a global pandemic.

I am curious though, what it would be like to get through a day without someone mentioning the way I look. No one telling me that I should smile. No one staring at my ass, whether I was wearing loose fitting jeans or a cocktail dress. No one telling me I'm wearing too much or not enough makeup.

What's that like?

I was 18 and I was working in a study group for a math class one day, and one guy who was a bit older than me hung back to guide me through an equation that I just wasn't understanding. After we wrapped up he shook my hand and wouldn't let go until I smiled at him.

"Come on, I helped you out. Just gimme a little pretty smile."

I was 18 and while working front desk at a mechanics shop, a man came in and wouldn't hand me over his keys until I smiled and laughed at his joke.

"Just one little smile." Que my smile. "See? That wasn't so bad, sweetheart."

I was 19 and while on a date with a guy, I smiled at him when we met at the movies and said hello. During the movie, he tried to grope me and kiss me and said, verbatim: "Come on, you were smiling earlier, just keep up."

I was 20 and on my first day at a new job, someone came in and I was managing a pretty normal smile that you'd have if you were working the front desk of any business. While I turned around I heard a shutter click and turned back and realized he took a picture of me bent over.

"It's just a joke, honey bunch. Just gimme a smile."

I'm 27 now, and today while wearing a mask someone came in and told me to smile, even though they couldn't see my mouth.

"I can tell by your eyes, you're not smiling. Go on, smile like you mean it."

I wish I could tell you that I punched him in the face. But I didn't, he was old and obviously excelled at a time where it was fair game to pinch your secretarys ass and get away with it.

Not that that should be an excuse.

I hate that expression: "They're the older generation and should be given a pass for their behavior."

No, fuck that. It wasn't okay then, there were just more laws protecting men than women back then. And now that that behavior isn't okay, they believe it's a sudden change when it's not.

And it starts with telling a woman to smile.

That's how women begin to figure out how to fake an orgasm.