A man had a microscopic taste of what it’s like to be a woman at his bartending job after serving a female customer. Now TikTok viewers—particularly women—can’t help but find a bit of satisfaction in him feeling offended.
What Happened At This Bar?
Nashville-based bartender Zach Martin (@7achmartin) shared an interaction he had with a female customer. In his TikTok, which earned over 4,000 views, Martin says he was having “a great time bartending until this one thing happened.”
Martin continues that a woman came in and was looking at their menu when he approached and asked what he could get her. She asked for another minute, so Martin circled back later to once again take her order.
“’I think I’m just gonna take a vodka Coke,’” he recalls the woman saying. Martin obliged, serving her the Coke and then cashing her out. As he gave her the receipt, Martin says the woman suddenly decided to give him some advice.
“At the very end, she goes, ‘You know what? You’d make more money if you smiled more,’” he recounts. At this point in the clip, Martin’s jaw drops as he laughs in incredulity.
“I wanted to lose it, but I didn’t,” Martin says. “So I just said, ‘Thank you, have a great night.’” The TikToker concludes by saying he will be practicing his smile so he can earn more tips.
Viewers Are Amused
Many of Martin’s viewers found humor in his displeasure at hearing he needs to smile more. Some women shared their own perspective on the well-known societal expectation.
“I’ll be honest, I get told to smile daily, it’s nice to hear dudes get told that too,” one woman wrote. Another added, “As a female bartender, this is something I’m told almost every night by men.”
A third user simply wrote, “Oh how the tables have turned…”
Some offered possible reasons they may have a serious expression while at work. Like one user who said, “I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SAY SMILE SARAH!!! Give me a min… I got my thinking face bro… I have to remember the, names, drinks, food order I need to put in and run… ugh….”
As one user put it, “I fear that would make me crash out.”
Women Dealing With Being Told To ‘Smile More’
The misogynistic microaggression that men place on women by telling them to smile more hurts more than just women’s self-esteem and confidence. In 2019, Inc. reported on a survey in which 98% of women said they were told to smile more at work at some point in their lives. Apart from feeling underappreciated and unwelcome in the workplace, the report shared how “telling a woman to smile can hurt their ability to communicate and present themselves directly.”
Due to these negative feelings, it could lead to poor performance and put the woman’s professional life at risk.
While men may think the intention is well-placed or even a joke, it’s clear women hate it (and if Martin’s reaction is anything to go by, apparently, men hate it too.) So much so that a Redditor took to the r/AskFeminists forum to ask advice about how to convey these feelings.
One user replied, “Nobody wants to be told how to feel, or to pretend to feel differently for someone else’s sake. It’s just a stupid thing to say to someone. Plus it’s just lazy. Wanna see a smile? Tell a joke.”
BroBible reached out to Martin via TikTok direct message.