Man telling me to look happier

[pseudonymyname]

I was in a taxi. He said you look really happy don't you sarcastically. I said oh maybe I look tired and I wish I had just said well I'm not really happy why would I be. This makes me really angry I hate these stupid men that do this. It's just insulting, I just looked normal

Don't overthink it - he's an absolute bell end.......
Male entitlement.....
Have yourself a nice glass of wine tonight x

Pricks like this give me the rage too ......

My pet hate, along with " Cheer up love" in the street. So sexist and exhausting.

This makes me so angry! Your face is not there for his viewing pleasure.

I remember once walking anxiously through a hospital and a man felt the need to tell me to “cheer up love”

I came across a great bit of advice once stuck with me

If someone says something rude or sarcastic to you especially in front of other people act like you didn't hear them and just say "sorry what" they won't want to repeat themselves as they know they are being a dick and it puts the spotlight back on them

This infuriates me as well. Now I'm old no one says this any more but when I was in my teens and twenties it was very common 'give us a smile' and 'cheer up love, it might never happen'. I was so young and naive I used to try and smile for people. Wish I'd glared instead!

It is sexist. My son was with me and he'd been awake all night and was shattered and pale and he never said anything to him

You can't go back in time, so chalk it up as him being an idiot rather than you not being prepared with a stinger of a witty retort for some random guy who felt entitled to critique your appearance.

It's just so cheeky

Time to start grinning like an absolute lunatic showing all your teeth at once. Reserved specially for men who think it's appropriate to tell women to smile. Channel a Junji Ito monster.

I will say that next time, which there will definitely be one of

Let it hang in the air…no response.

Yeah. I've been too polite

Cheer up, pseudonymyname
It might neverrappen

We’re conditioned to. We know we mustn’t upset them or offend them by being uninterested, because of what they might do. Personally I’ve grown tired of living under the threat, and I’ve started telling my own daughters that it’s fine to be “rude” if someone is causing them to feel uncomfortable or unsafe. I recently didn’t respond to similar, and it made him look even more of a dick than he’d decided to be. Very satisfying, 10/10 😉

Women have 'resting bitch face'.
Is there a male equivalent?🤔

It's not even about politeness really. It's because as women we've been conditioned to accommodate (or at least not to upset) the male ego. By answering them we are acknowledging a certain "ownership" of us. It's the male privilege of making personal comments to a random woman with impunity. If we don't answer with a dutiful smile we are obviously flawed as females - a bitch, a lesbian, whatever. Would they tell another man to "cheer up it might never happen". I think we all know the answer.

'That's such a strange thing to say to someone you don't know' or 'what did you do to make me look happy? Did I miss it?...oh you didn't? So why would I look happy then?' and a perplexed look are good responses I've found.

Id always just put up with these annoying comments until one evening, when some random bloke said cheer up love, might never happen. I just looked him up and down and then said “Too late, it already has, you’ve just spoken to me”. It had the desired effect and I’ve used it multiple times since

This is my absolute pet hate. I was stopped in my car at a junction once and the man crossing the road stopped in front of my car and said 'give me a smile love'. I stared him in the eyes and very slowly raised my middle finger at him. He was fuming and as I drove off he was stood in the road shouting obscenities at me. It felt SO good!!!

This is how to respond next time OP

@NotEveryoneIsHelpful
Haha! I remember that!
However, the absolute bitch in me prefers to turn into the
Junji Ito monster re @MonsteraMama

The same happened to me 2 weeks ago in work. It was the day after I came back from compassionate leave after my auntie who was more a mum to me died, we weren't expecting her death.

A man walked in I said hi how can I help? He said you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders so I did a little laugh and asked how I can help again. At the end of the conversation he asked me if I was happy? Then asked if I'm reasonably happy. I ignored him. It's so so rude, people have no idea what other people have going on in their lives. If I seen someone looking upset or distracted I'd try my best to quickly ask what I needed and move on.