'How about you hand me 10,000 bucks? Then I'll smile from ear to ear': Janitor struggling with financial issues is criticized for not smiling on the job

One of the most annoying things you can hear is "Why don't you smile more?" No sentence in the English language is less likely to make me smile. Smiling should be an involuntary reaction. You're happy. You're spending time with someone you love. You're listening to a good song. You're in a good mood and you're greeting a stranger. You're hearing a funny joke. These are all wonderful reasons to smile. Smiling while performing a possibly unpleasant task, like cleaning a toilet or mopping the floor? Probably not something that comes naturally. But unfortunately, we live in a world where sometimes we have to pretend like everything is hunky-dory even when it's not. 

The least we can do, though, is let other people be who they are, and express their emotions how they'd like to express their emotions. One woman didn't quite internalize that, though, and told a janitor to smile. The comment sparked an interesting discussion about how we project happiness in the workplace. Read on for the details.

Author image for JR Atkinson JR Atkinson
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