'I was instructed to smile more': Tech support worker weirds out customers by maliciously complying with supervisor's instructions

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 21, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

This employee was confused by their boss's latest comments, and they decided to comply to the best of their abilities. 

For many women, being told to smile more is an unfortunate rite of passage. It's usually said by some older dude as the woman is working or just walking around, minding her own business. There's no winning in this situation. If you smile back on request, you feel degraded, and definitely not smiley. If you don't smile, they'll say something about kids these days, and why can't anyone just lighten up? There's no reason anyone needs anyone else to smile at them. If you have to ask for it, it's telling of your personality. Do you mean to tell me you can't get people to smile for you organically? You have to request it? That just makes me feel bad for you. 

It's also difficult when the person demanding you smile more is your boss. Some people just have resting B face, but that doesn't mean they're actually grumpy or unhappy with their work. At least this tech support employee got their employer to regret ever giving that feedback. It was truly a win for them — that boss is never going to tell someone to smile ever again. 

Next up, check out some of these great memes for the Gen Xers of the world (or anyone who's set up a VCR!). 

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    Surface
    via Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
  • 02
    I was told I needed to "smile more", ok then S I worked as a tech support for a global insurance company with three big letters. Our old manager retired, cool guy, not a micromanager. We get this new one who was, right away very confrontational, he was a my way or the highway kind of guy, even when we explained the
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 03
    bureaucracy of our company and processes. For whatever reason he had it in for me, went as far as make comments in front of everybody about replacing me.
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 04
    At one of our employee review meetings he said he was getting complaints of me "not smiling enough”, which i fond very odd because I consider myself a likable person and I'm always joking with other users and employees, which I've found helps with the job.
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 05
    So he continues and even goes as far as to show me how to smile 33. Cue the malicious compliance
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 06
    I proceed to give out the most forced, creepy smile humanly possible every time i interact with a user, every single time. People asked me what was wrong and i always answered "Following an employee review I was instructed to smile more, so I'm smiling". I was doing this for like a couple of days and after an interaction
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 07
    providing support for Human Resources, with the smile and explanation, I went back to my desk, couple of minutes later I see HR lady go to my bosses office, they were there for like half an hour. After she leaves boss calls me in, and telms me I don't have to smile anymore.
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 08
    respond sarcastically with "aww do I really have to stop?" He looks at me and tells me that's all. He left like a year later, no one, not even the other managers liked him.
    via u/Mr-Mando
  • 09
    Bb... I hated when people told me to smile more when I worked at my night shift coffee drive thru. One guy said "you know, if you smile more, you'll get better tips." At the time I was going to college during the day, freshly lost. my mother to cancer, and working nights full time. I
    via u/BbyAngeleyez1226
  • 10
    replied with, "you know, you should say that to your wife and have her make your coffee then." He never said anything about me smiling again, and he started tipping the night shift staff.
    via u/BbyAngeleyez1226
  • 11
    SordoCrabs "Gosh, I'd love to stop, but my mom was right about making faces and now it's stuck this way."
    via u/SordoCrabs
  • 12
    AccentFiend I have RBF. I'm also constantly cracking jokes to friends and laughing. As a female, the number of times I've had a male tell me something along the lines of "you have a beautiful smile, you should use it more often" is countless. And there's no good response to it. What, do you want my now VERY awkward smile?
    via u/AccentFiend
  • 13
    Do you want me to thank you for your backhanded compliment? Should I throw myself at your feet sobbing in silent gratitude that you've acknowledged my existence so you feel you've done a good deed? I started responding. "Well, give me something to smile about, then." Deadpan. Dead look in My eyes. Not even an eye twitch. NOW
    via u/AccentFiend
  • 14
    who's smiling awkwardly? Stammering? Or they get indignant and then I just laugh and say something like " isn't it?" No regrets.
    via u/AccentFiend
  • 15
    darkenedgy Godddd so one of my old jobs gave mirrors to the technical support team as a reminder that they should be smiling while on calls (no video, it was literally about "you'll have a better tone with the customer").
    via u/darkenedgy
  • 16
    Murky_waters13 I've always hated this, 'you should smile more.' 'Smile, it's not that bad.' 'won't kill you to smile.' A few times my response was, why!? Look around you whooo tf is smiling right now? No one. No one walks around smiling all the time, it's creepy. Find me one, right now and I will smile all you want.
    via u/Murky_waters13
  • 17
    th... A few weeks ago at work I was moving some heavy tool boxes around and a man came up to me and said "you should smile, it would increase your face value". Like does that even mean you
    via u/thedemon-in-theattic

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boss workplace-stories jobs tech support job malicious compliance bosses work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit technology workplace Tech malicious compliance reddit smiling smiles smile
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