Did you know that not everyone has been brought up to smile?

When McDonald’s restaurants invaded Russia, the bosses--all of whom were American--insisted that the Russian young people working behind the counter give customers the standard Mickey D smile.

Russian customers were outraged--and insulted--because in Russia smiling at strangers means you’re making fun of them.

How did Mickey D Russia solve the problem? They hired personnel which they called "Smile Explainers" to shout into bullhorns at customers in line: "When you reach the counter, you will be smiled at. This does not mean we are making fun of you." (1)

Not everyone has been brought up to smile. Sometime back there was a news article about an organization called Depressives Anonymous. Anyway, this particular branch of Depres…