Smile Detectors...

Well for one, I wouldn't work their in the first place.

It seems like japanese culture still has the sigma about not showing true emotion to others, being seen as "improper". I wonder if that will ever change. I'm very glad I don't live in that socieity.

 

This is good for customer service and as long as the machine can't detect if people are flipping it off while smiling, I say go for it.

 

While it is good for customer service. Don't you think this is extremely unfair to employees? For one, a computer can't mesure true happiness in a person, and unless the computer is designed to pick up on the difference between a real and fake smile, then it isn't even worth it. People can easily pick up on the difference between genuine warmth, and fake warmth.

 

Haha - I was being sarcastic (the part about the flipping the machine off). Yeah, I agree that it'd be unfair.

I lived in Japan for about 2.5 years and you're right that there is a stigma about showing genuine emotion. It's not just a general society expetation but even plays a major part in relationships between SOs and married couples... wtf!

I used to think it'd be cool to marry a Japanese girl but now.... not too sure about it. She'd have to have spent some serious time in western society and loosen up a little more with her emotions.

 

I think we would have to dig very very far into the past to know for sure. It seems like one of those things that started from a very small group of people in the beginning, and then just snowballed from there and was latched onto.

It isn't the same thing as slavery. People do have the option to buck this and go against it and be themselves. The new generation there seems to be doing this more now.

I'm actually surprizes the country doesn't have extreme social problems. I read peoples facial expression alot to figure out how to act around them, and I know I am not the only one who does this. Over there, it seems like this isn't a possibillity for people. You would think this would lead to alot of passive agressive acts, and over all anger to one another.

 

A world of forcibly smiling people sounds creepy.
My smiling muscles hurt just thinking about it!

 

They should spend the money on staff payrises and thankyou notes for doing a good job, flowers, cards and presents at Christmas and Birthdays and they might find the staff would smile of their own accord.

 

Good point Elf!

 

You bein angry at your massa boi?
Woooowee, someone's gunna get a beltin'

You'sa lucky we ain gun lynch you boi.

 

Now, I wonder what happens to the system if you smile too much...


<input overload>
Shucks

 

Yet another symptom of Japan's social illness.

 

I can see how the supervisor-employee conversations would go down.
Supervisor: "You failed the smile test. Again. One more failure and you're done"

Employee: <forced smile> "Oh I'm having a wonderful day. Such a wonderful day. I guess I should go back home to my cat. Wait, she died this morning and I found out about it right before the check. Wow. I guess I should go back to being happy shouldn't I."

 

Gaffa tape. Tape your cheeks to resemble a smile. You'll pass every time.

 

That reminds me of this article: "Outcasts quickly spot a fake smile"

Smile and the world smiles with you. Fake it and the recently divorced, socially unpopular and romantically rejected will be onto you.

This is the conclusion of a new study that shows people who have been cast off or excluded have an enhanced ability to determine whether the "happy" face before them is genuine or feigned.

Researchers from Miami University found subjects who were manipulated to feel rejection were able to tell a fake smile from a real one roughly 80 per cent of the time, while the odds of doing so among people with a sense of inclusion were only slightly better than chance.

continued: http://www.canada.com/topics/lifest....html?id=6adc0f50-cd02-4ba8-950d-38b7523b0b27

 

Well, that is one way to make sure someone is smiling... not the best though because you want a genuine smile versus a fake smile.