Today, I was walking down Church Street on my way to an appointment. As I crossed the street, some middle-aged man driving in his car opened his window just to shout to me, "smile honey, it ain't all that bad." To any other person, this might have not even phased them. But for me, who has been harassed my whole life for RBF, it really fired me up.
RBF is an acronym for "Resting Bitch Face", meaning that anyone who walks around without a smile on their face is, for lack of a better term- a bitch. It affects men, women, children, cats, and so on. Since that man took the time out of his day to point out something that I, personally, am very insecure about, I thought I would name the top things I hear on a day-to-day basis about my RBF.
1. "OMG, I like totally thought you didn't like me when we first met!"
Once you finally get to know someone, they often will go on about how you thought they didn't think you liked them because you looked miserable talking to them, blah, blah, blah. WE LOVE MAKING FRIENDS. I loved to meet you just as much as you loved to meet me.
2. "What's wrong?!"
Nothing. Literally nothing is wrong. I am not passive-aggressively trying to look angry or sad on purpose. I was actually just thinking about the leftovers I have in my fridge and hoping they haven't gone bad yet.
3. "It takes more muscles to frown than to smile!"
Who are you, Mr. Rodgers? It is clearly more comfortable to frown than to smile due to the fact that you rarely see people walking down the street smiling like they just won the lottery.
4. "Don't look at me like that."
I'm sorry. This is just my face. I don't want to fight you, random girl in front of me in the Rite-Aid line.
5. "I don't like her." "Why?" "I don't know, she just looks at me funny."
You don't like her because she looks at you weird? Have you ever had a conversation with her before? I heard she likes "Harry Potter," YOU like "Harry Potter." Don't judge a book by its cover, my friend.
6. "You're way more approachable when you smile."
I think everyone on Earth is, but thank you for that tip.
7. "You don't look like you want to be here."
Unless this is the library or a federal prison, chances are I want to be here and I am very happy that I am. So please don't judge me on the basis of what I LOOK like I want to be doing.
In all seriousness, people with RBF usually have no idea that they look the way they look. More often than not, I will look in the mirror shocked at how miserable I look because in my head, I think I look pretty happy. I promise, we are not creatures who crave miserable things and plot everyone's demise. When you point out that someone looks miserable, it usually hurts their feelings, especially when it is just the way they naturally look. So next time you see someone with RBF, just smile at them, chances are they will smile at you back.
