Things could always be worse. Or not.

One of my biggest pet peeves is to be standing in line somewhere, perhaps a gas station, looking at nothing in particular, mind wandering aimlessly, only to hear this, "Smile. Things could always be worse." I look up and sure enough some man is staring at me, expecting some kind of response. I said a man, because in every instance I can recall, a woman has never, ever, said this to me. It's always been a man. Chalk that up to another checked box in the 'women have more sense category'.

Now, I don't like to think of myself as someone who walks around with a scowl, and if you greet me with a "Hello" or "How are you?" in the checkout line, I will most likely smile and respond with a similar greeting. This particular interaction, however, is not going to illicit a pleasant response from me or a cheerful grin. Most days I bite my tongue, while contorting my face into the most disgusted look I can conjure at the moment, and try to shoot death rays from my eyes. But catch me at an inopportune time, and I may tell you where you can stick that smile you're looking for.

First of all, like I said, this is almost always said at some random moment whilst I'm staring off into space and standing in line somewhere. Who just stands around smiling for no reason? Unless, I'm having a funny internal thought, I don't just walk around smiling to myself. I'm even gonna go out on a limb and say most people in the world don't do this either, unless they're high.

Second of all, it's pretty damn presumptuous to assume to know anything about me or my life. I wonder how many times somebody has unloaded the "smile, it could be worse" to someone who had just been fired, or their spouse had just left them, or perhaps just got news they only had a short time left to live.

And for that matter, at what point is it appropriate to stop saying things could always be worse. I don't know, maybe you lost your job and consequently all your money, your car, your house and now you're homeless - - and for an extra cherry topping -- your entire family was just killed in a tragic accident. Is that when it doesn't get any worse? Is that when it's okay to say, hey you know, things really couldn't actually get much worse. Although I suppose, in theory, at least you haven't managed to accidentally set yourself on fire.

I understand that the idea is to remind ourselves that no matter our situation, someone out there probably has it worse. This is supposed to be some kind of solace, a reminder to count the blessings we do have. I get that. I often remind myself of this when times get tough. But sometimes, it's still bad. Whatever hell you are going through, will most likely pass, and eventually life will be brighter. But no need to hide behind a veil of fake smiles when things are shitty. Scowl if you want to. And when someone tells you things could always be worse, just punch them in the face, and say, "yeah, at least nobody has hit me today." Then smile and walk away.