When a stranger on the street smiles at you:

a. you assume he is drunk

b. he is insane

c. he’s an American

CHEKALIN: It was an American video, and it was just dubbed in Russian. How you’re supposed to smile, how you're supposed to greet.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Glad you came in, hope to see you again real soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You bet.

SPIEGEL: And then the lights came back on, and the trainers got down to work breaking down the elements of American cheerfulness into digestible component parts. For example, when you meet someone, you must make direct eye contact, which seemed deeply strange to Yuri.

CHEKALIN: So in Russia we used to—if somebody looks at us, we just kind of look the other way, unless we about to fight or something like that. But in America, he says, you know, when you making eye contact, you smile.

Wal-Mart stopped requiring sales clerks to smile at customers—a practice that some male shoppers interpreted as flirting—and scrapped the morning Wal-Mart chant by staff members.

“People found these things strange; Germans just don’t behave that way,” said Hans-Martin Poschmann, the secretary of the Verdi union, which represents 5,000 Wal-Mart employees here.

On Reddit forums that ask “What’s a dead giveaway that someone is American?” one trait comes up over and over again: big, toothy grins.

Here’s how one Reddit user in Finland put it:




Last year, I wrote about why some countries seem to smile less than average—and mistrust those who do seem unusually peppy. A country’s level of instability, that study found, might be why people who seem happy for no reason in, say, Russia, are considered foolish.

But there’s an interesting line of research that helps explain outliers on the other end of the spectrum, too: Americans and their stereotypically mega-watt smiles.

It turns out that countries with lots of immigration have historically relied more on nonverbal communication. Thus, people there might smile more.

For a study published in 2015, an international group of researchers looked at the number of “source countries” that have fed into various nations since the year 1500. Places like Canada and the United States are very diverse, with 63 and 83 source countries, respectively, while countries like China and Zimbabwe are fairly homogenous, with just a few nationalities represented in their populations.

Other than causing consternation for tourists, these cultural differences in the value and uses of smiles are also why it can be hard for iconic American companies to expand overseas. As a recent episode of Invisibilia showed, when McDonald’s entered Russia in the ’90s, they had to coach their employees on how to smile. Here’s how Yuri Chekalin, a former McDonald’s employee, described the experience to Invisibilia host Alix Spiegel:



And when Wal-Mart opened stores in Germany, the company also had to tweak its chipper ways to better suit the sober local mores, as The New York Times reported in 2006:



It wasn’t enough, alas: Wal-Mart pulled out of Germany that year after losing hundreds of millions of dollars. There were other cultural differences at play, like Wal-Mart’s failed attempts to get its German employees to relocate. And while the bosses back at Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters might have been cheerier than their Bavarian counterparts, they weren’t too happy with unions, a staple of the German labor market. (“Bentonville … thought we were communists,” Poschmann, the union secretary, told the Times.)

Like so many other daily practices, in other words, the American smile is a product of our culture. And it can be similarly difficult to export.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/why-americans-smile-so-much/524967/

ccollins:
so americans smile a lot

FortuneTeller:
PDPGuy

Hey cutie. What are you doing today?

PDPGuy:

Meeting with friends dear

You?

FortuneTeller:


Digesting a blooming onion.

PDPGuy:

Enjoy your meal

FortuneTeller:


Well chat with me when you have time. Post some pictures from west coast sometimes.

PDPGuy:

Yeah
I'll send u a pm

FortuneTeller:


I don't chat off the site. It keeps me honest. I have a husband and I'm pregnant lol. But surprisingly I know exactly how to reach you if I really want to. For now, let's just keep it cute and chat here on old threads.

PDPGuy:

Haha
I wouldn't want to cause problems
How are you coping with the pregnancy?

FortuneTeller:


Oh my... I am gaining weight. You know these American doctors have a test for everything and want a dollar for every word. It is well.
Anyway, I've never been to Cali. Do you like it out there? I'm thinking of visiting next year for a Hollywood tour.

PDPGuy:


These American doctors are just threading on the side of caution; they don't want you to sue them for medical negligence (malpractice)
You know we are a lawsuit-happy nation, lol. Your feet must have been swollen by now

Anyway, I like San Diego: it's got the perfect weather and the beaches are serene.

The only downside is the cost of living. If you find a one-bedroom apartment for like $1,000, just know that you are lucky. A professor friend of mine, here, said she pays $1500 for her one bedroom apartment. I was shocked. But I told her there are some in my city that go for no more than $1,200 in my area.

That is Pacific Beach in San Diego. We hung out there last month

FortuneTeller:


That's not too bad. You could get a 3 bedroom in my town, but the beach isn't far from me and the prices are about the same. If you are single and have a roommate, I'm sure you can save a lot. Are you playing to stay there for law school?

PDPGuy:


Yep. I'll get some fin aid, but I won't work at all for my first year. The admissions advisor told me it's not advisable for first year students to do any type of work due to the volume of school work to be done.

So, it's most likely that I'll be doing part time work in my 2nd year.

BTW, where do you live? I may just move there to take advantage of the cheaper housing

FortuneTeller:


Yes that is very true. But remember don't get into too much debt. It's almost impossible to get out of it once it gets too far. Once that happens, the government can seize all your property if you don't pay. You won't like it in this state. It's a little backward and a lot of village LOL. I would much rather visit you in San Diego. Well I think I'll go to sleep since it's getting late in my time zone. Good night cutie.

PDPGuy:


I'll qualify for a partial scholarship for the first year, but I could get a bigger scholarship after the first year if I'm amongst the top 30 of my class. Just praying to get the admission letter.

I don't mind living in the village if I can get a decent 4-bedroom house for $150,000, and pay $1.89 for gas

Alright dear, goodnight. Nice chatting with you

FortuneTeller:


You can easily get that here lol, but the beach is 45 minutes away.

Anyway how was work? Did you watch Game of Thrones last night?

PDPGuy:

I don't watch the show cos I don't even have HBO/Netflix. But I hear it's so interesting.

I don't mind a 45-min trip to the beach if I can get cheaper housing . Na money be the koko.

Work is good, although by next month I'll definitely not be working due to L-school commitments.

FortuneTeller:


It's a great series but you have to start at the beginning.
As for housing, you can definitely move to this area and get a 4 bedroom for that price. but I don't think the bar is reciprocal. So you would have to take the one here. It might be better for you to move near DC to avoid retaking it. Also Virginia Beach won't be too far from you. I don't know about getting a house that cheap near DC, but a lot of Nigerians are there.

It seems you are looking to settle down fairly soon. Do you have a fiancee yet?

FortuneTeller:


You can easily get that here lol, but the beach is 45 minutes away.

Anyway how was work? Did you watch Game of Thrones last night?

FortuneTeller:


Yes that is very true. But remember don't get into too much debt. It's almost impossible to get out of it once it gets too far. Once that happens, the government can seize all your property if you don't pay. You won't like it in this state. It's a little backward and a lot of village LOL. I would much rather visit you in San Diego. Well I think I'll go to sleep since it's getting late in my time zone. Good night cutie.

aariwa:
pdpguy you have got yourself a new woman.I think she knows a lot about the bar and wants to advice you

PDPGuy:


Na only friendly chats o

PDPGuy:
^^
Get well soon, buddy.
What's ailing you

PDPGuy:
^^
Haha, that's normal. Which trimester are you in?