It’s hard to keep smiling when people are mistreating you.

So, what would you do if a customer finished yelling at you for something completely out of your control, and your manager’s response wasn’t support but a reminder to smile?

Would you fake happiness to make your boss happy? Or would you remain neutral but professional?

In the following story, one worker finds themselves in this situation and chooses the latter.

Here’s what happened.

Manager asked why I’m not smiling during my shift

I work retail. A customer just yelled at me for 10 minutes because we don’t carry a product we’ve never carried.

My manager walked by right after and said, “You need to smile more. Customers like happy employees.”

I told her I am being professional and polite, but I’m not going to fake a smile after being verbally abused.

The manager didn’t see it the same way.

She said, “It’s part of the job. Fake it till you make it.”

No. Forcing me to perform happiness while getting paid $14/hour to be someone’s punching bag is not part of any job description I signed.

I didn’t respond. Just went back to work with the same neutral expression.

She’s been cold to me since. Don’t care.

Eek! This really makes for an awkward situation for everyone.

Let’s see if the people over at Reddit can relate to this retail worker.

This reader finds fake smiling very unsettling.

Here’s someone who suggests turning it around on the manager.

This would definitely leave people rattled.

As this person explains, it’s hard to fake happiness after getting yelled at.

It’s time to move on. From the sound of it, they should just find a new job because this one is terrible.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.