Mixx's thread on Moldova got me thinking about smiling.
I recall this Moldovan girl, who loved to complain, complaining about Americans smiling too much. She found it insincere. Then that got me thinking of this French dude I met who moved from Paris to L.A. and roomed with me for a while, and he thought L.A. was the friendliest place on earth. People smiled to each other and said "hi" if you said hi to a complete stranger while walking into the grocery store. He loved it, and found Paris miserable by comparison. And lastly I recall checking into a motel in Denver last year, and the front counter lady was a 35-40 year old Polish woman who had the worst customer service ever - she'd not smile, give rote answers and just stare - it felt miserable. It felt Soviet.
That got me thinking about what countries are outgoing and like to smile. I don't think I'd like to be in a spot where people are cautious of each other and view smiling to strangers as weakness. When I get to know friends we genuinely have what I would call real laughter and smiling as well, so I don't get the outward negativity to strangers.
I imagine the U.S. is somewhere around the 90% on what I would call the smiling index - with maybe places like Brazil or Fiji or something higher. So, how do other countries compare? And what is really behind the lack of public smiling?
I recall this Moldovan girl, who loved to complain, complaining about Americans smiling too much. She found it insincere. Then that got me thinking of this French dude I met who moved from Paris to L.A. and roomed with me for a while, and he thought L.A. was the friendliest place on earth. People smiled to each other and said "hi" if you said hi to a complete stranger while walking into the grocery store. He loved it, and found Paris miserable by comparison. And lastly I recall checking into a motel in Denver last year, and the front counter lady was a 35-40 year old Polish woman who had the worst customer service ever - she'd not smile, give rote answers and just stare - it felt miserable. It felt Soviet.
That got me thinking about what countries are outgoing and like to smile. I don't think I'd like to be in a spot where people are cautious of each other and view smiling to strangers as weakness. When I get to know friends we genuinely have what I would call real laughter and smiling as well, so I don't get the outward negativity to strangers.
I imagine the U.S. is somewhere around the 90% on what I would call the smiling index - with maybe places like Brazil or Fiji or something higher. So, how do other countries compare? And what is really behind the lack of public smiling?