Smiling

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

This is a smile.​

I cannot smile on command. This simple fact has plagued me from the first school pictures to the jobs where smiling is 'encouraged'.[footnote]The smile or I'll cut your hours because there is a secret shopper coming in this week and we need to get good numbers kind of 'encouragement'[/footnote] The best I've ever done is a bit of a grin or a smirk but I can't pull off the toothy smile that everyone seems to love.

I am not a sad or mopey person. I'm usually quite happy during my daily wanderings. I just cannot smile for you. That isn't to say I don't smile at all. It tends to be an involuntary thing with me though I can't recall the last time I naturally had a toothy grin.

It bugs me as smiling is one of those universal ways of communicating. I dunno, anyone else have smiling issues?

These are my thoughts today.

 

[Philol]

I'm basically the same, if I'm essentially forced to smile at pictures etc my smile looks so unnatural, fake, and ever so slightly weird. But I have a perfectly lovely and friendly smile when I'm not told to smile on queue.

 

[Berithil]

I'm pretty much the same. People often get irritated when I don't give the camera a big toothy grin when im getting my picture taken. But if something happens that makes me happy, I can have the biggest, genuine grin. When its for a photo, it just feels too forced and faked

 

[teqrevisited]

My problem is that every time I smile because I'm prompted it looks like I'm up to something.

 

[Stormz]

I can smile easily, but I never show teeth. I look ridiculous so I just go for the closed mouth instead.

 

[Tazzy da Devil]

I can smile on cue. Sometimes I do it at random times just to cheer myself up!

 

[Edd4224]

I always look stoned when I give a big grin in a picture. It's why I don't like getting pictures taken of me that often. Before anyone says anything I am usually sober or have been drinking when people take pictures of me.

 

[Nouw]

I can't smile because when I do, it's nasty. Which is why I grin instead

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

OP, where is that picture from? It looks a bit like Firo or maybe Ennis from Baccano, but I can't be sure. Maybe it's just me, but it's bugging me.

It's Ciel from the series Black Butler or Kuroshitsuji. I'm in love with the series and eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

 

[saucecode]

Isn't that part of how humans work. A genuine smile can't be forced onto your face, unless there is something to smile about.

 

[Instant K4rma]

I can smile on command for short periods, though if I hold it for too long I start to get the feeling that it's incredibly forced and that I look like an absolute ass.

I don't tend to smile if I'm alone, but I smile a lot around other people and in conversation. I guess I just love socializing, even if I'm not very good at it.

 

[manic_depressive13]

I like to think that my fake smiles are convincing, but most of the time when I'm getting my picture taken (for school or whatever) I have no reason to be genuinely smiling nor attempting to convince people that I am genuinely smiling, so it usually comes out as either a sneer or a grimace.

 

[Ice Car]

This is a smile.​

I cannot smile on command. This simple fact has plagued me from the first school pictures to the jobs where smiling is 'encouraged'.[footnote]The smile or I'll cut your hours because there is a secret shopper coming in this week and we need to get good numbers kind of 'encouragement'[/footnote] The best I've ever done is a bit of a grin or a smirk but I can't pull off the toothy smile that everyone seems to love.

I am not a sad or mopey person. I'm usually quite happy during my daily wanderings. I just cannot smile for you. That isn't to say I don't smile at all. It tends to be an involuntary thing with me though I can't recall the last time I naturally had a toothy grin.

It bugs me as smiling is one of those universal ways of communicating. I dunno, anyone else have smiling issues?

These are my thoughts today.

Same thing as you, but that could be because I have mild to severe Asperger's... Didn't think I had it first, but then I realized that in too many instances in the past I failed to feel emotion when I probably should have (Any sort of Eulogy, death, or sad viewing that people would be deeply affected by, I would just look at and think "meh"). Other various symptoms showed up that literally define part of myself.

Aaaand, that makes 3 disorders I currently have. FML.

I haven't smiled unless I laughed for years and years, possible since I was in early Elementary School when I didn't realize how retardedly I smiled (I usually forced a smile and it looked extremely awkward. Never smiled on command again once I realized that, though come to think of it, I never HAVE been able to smile on command. The reason I was smiling like that was because I couldn't smile naturally and only could that way.

 

[Wuggy]

[EDIT]

 

[Drummie666]

I can't give a toothy smile either, that's something I didn't inherit from my father. Seriously, he asked me to take a portrait photo of him (I don't know why) and he through on this like... perfectly real smile. Honestly, I was kind of scared. I mean, I really hate my father (though he doesn't know that) and knowing that he can put on very real looking smiles like that just creeps me out.

Really, I've never been good at hiding my feelings. Positive or negative.

Oh great, the disease that is ponies keeps on spreading. Now I'm unable to smile for the rest of the day, so thanks.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

I rarely tend to do things on command, let alone smile.

Oh great, the disease that is ponies keeps on spreading. Now I'm unable to smile for the rest of the day, so thanks.

my thoughts exactly.