Man at Morrisons questioned my shopping and told me to cheer up

[FelicityShagsWell]

I just bought a few things in Morrisons and the gate wouldn't let me out. I asked the bloke behind me if he knew if there was a problem and he said you need to tap your receipt. Fair enough, I didn't know that. But while I was looking for it he said he didn't believe I'd paid for my purchases. When I looked puzzled I was told to cheer up.

Do men in 2026 still say that! I thought it was left behind on 1970s building sites.

Sounds like he was trying to make small talk whilst you blocked his exit and faffed about trying to find your receipt!

What's that's got to do with supposedly looking miserable?! Or, someone being in the way is okay to personally insult?

You can be helpful without being an arse.

He was probably just trying to make a joke, I’d have said I haven’t & if I get caught I’m saying
I’m with you 🤣

It's really not that serious - he was just making a lighthearted comment.

I was neither rude nor miserable, neither was I acting like a comedian. Just normal. I'm not generally rude to people and there was no reason to be in this context.

There were two swing doors like a saloon door type that says on them the door will open following payment, but no indication to scan your receipt. My local Morrisons doesn't have this.

Exactly this.

You’ve misunderstood the joke he was making and then when your face showed him you weren’t happy he’s then made a comment because he’s probably felt a bit irritated by a shitty look after what he thought was a friendly encounter.

You think were neither rude nor miserable - but you say you 'looked puzzled'. When you speak to someone first to ask their advice, they are accommodating and treat the exchange as a friendly or neighbourly one, and your expression of complete puzzlement at this is explicit, you probably aren't coming across as just normal.

Wow people think accusing someone of theft is a lighthearted joke on here 🤣 op he was a dick.

He wasn't genuinely accusing her of theft though 🙄

I don’t think the OP misunderstood the “joke” it just wasn’t particularly funny. Even if she did misunderstand it, the bloke didn’t need to respond with that tired bloody phrase that should be binned by now. She wasn’t miserable. She doesn’t need to cheer up at the behest of a random man if she was miserable for some reason.

My response to that would have been "Fuck off".

All the women on here falling over themselves to insist telling a stranger to ‘cheer up’ is normal. Have you ever done this to a random man?

The first part was a random unfunny joke. But op didn’t simper at the man’s wittiness so he wanted to insult her. End of.

I was out on a run last week and a man told me to cheer up and smile. 🙄

My grandad used to say it to younger women as well.

Some men don’t seem to understand that women aren’t there to smile for them.

Grow a sense of humour and move on

Yeah, the old “cheer up love” trope is never heard anywhere, talked about anywhere, I never see anyone using it in pop culture at all. Never read articles about it, haven’t seen a gazillion reels poking fun at it. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Do people in 2026 live under rocks?

Some responses are weird and make me wonder what sort of men these women are married to.

I couldn't see a point either.
Is the OP offended by this?
Is there no end to what people can be offended by?

I also have a resting bitch face. I developed the response of "my mother died last night" which made them look utterly shit and hopefully stopped them doing it again. My mum didn't mind me theoretically killing her off for this purpose.

The point is... Is it unreasonable to expect blokes not to make personal remarks to women who are also strangers. I can't understand in what world 'jokingly' accusing someone of robbing a newspaper, milkshake and a Turkish Delight is banter. It's not, on fact it's really odd. He didn't have to make a stupid 'joke' and then compound it either.

No I wasn't offended but I was puzzled why a man in 2026 would say something from On the Buses or Life on Mars.

Yes but somehow I don't think I'd have had to because I doubt it would even happen.

Men don't really want women going around grinning insanely or smiling at them on order. So why say it?

Perhaps he was a Time Traveller. Seems an idea worth exploring.

👏

@FelicityShagsWell

this will genuinely cheer you up I promise

Thanks! That's it! It's him!

Well that’s the exact point it wouldn’t happen.

I have never had a woman stranger tell me to cheer up or smile at them it may never happen. I have also never witnessed them doing it to men. I have also rarely experienced the dig wrapped as a feeble joke.

I have had a waiter try and say it was banter (and she loved it) when he said don’t pay attention to his colleague she’s useless when in fact she was really efficient and helpful. He didn’t like me saying I didn’t think it was necessary or funny. Never noticed a woman doing that to a male colleague either.