Why Russians do not smile (2002)
Quite a lot of US culture can come off as phony to (Eastern) Europeans. Friend of mine went to the US for a business schooling event and said people were completely incapable of honest criticism. They would sugar coat criticism under 10 layers of phony praise. He was the only one who actually said something was bad outright, if someone gave a bad presentation. He attributed it to cultural difference. Guess it is related to what Americans think is friendly &#x2F; unfriendly behavior.<p>It&#x27;s tough to navigate Americans. They&#x27;re super friendly, but often I feel like it&#x27;s their version of &quot;being polite&quot; and not more.<p>Just yesterday I read <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;idlewords.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;12&#x2F;gluten_free_antarctica.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;idlewords.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;12&#x2F;gluten_free_antarctica.htm</a> which is pretty amusing, and I recommend reading. Quoting the most relevant (to this discussion) part from it:<p>&gt; “Can I ask you something? How come the Russians never smile? I’ve never seen them smiling.”<p>&gt; “They’re at work. They&#x27;re Russians.”<p>&gt; &quot;Is it normal for them to eat without talking to one another?”<p>&gt; “This is their job. They get 20 minutes to eat.”<p>&gt; “Yeah, but they never smile. Are they happy?”<p>&gt; Are the Russians happy? Is anyone happy? Can one ever truly be said to be happy?<p>&gt; I am tempted to go full Slav on Conor, to explain to him how we are all just grains of dust suspended in the howling void, searching for meaning in the fleeting moments before we are yanked back to the oblivion from whence we emerged, naked and screaming. But for all his faults he&#x27;s just a kid stuck spending his summer microwaving Yorkshire puddings for difficult people. I take pity.<p>&gt; “Russians are formal. It would be weird of them to act relaxed on duty. They are all smiling on the inside.”