“When you’re smizing, When you’re smizing, The whole world, it smizes with you.”
The classic 1928 song, “When You’re Smiling,” made popular by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra, may have to adapt its lyrics to keep up with the New ABnormal.
With much of the world masked in public, there’s no more smiling. What to do?
It’s time to “Smize”!
In a lengthy front page story, the Wall Street Journal reported that among the mask wearing masses, it is time to “smile with your eyes.”
They noted “smize,” coined by model Tyra Banks, is now becoming the way of the world. “The safety mask has truly transformed smizing. It’s less about penetrating the camera lens with intensity and strength than it is about saying things like ‘How can I help you?’ or ‘You can go first.’”
The WSJ reported that with restaurant servers forced to wear masks, managers around the globe are teaching waitstaff how to smile with their eyes and communicate other gestures to make up for the fact that others can’t see the lower half of their faces.
At the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in South Korea, the general manager, a former male model, taught her staff how to “smile with their eyes.” The general manager commented, “The positive impact is felt by guests daily.”
At the Grand Resort Tremezzo on Lake Como in Italy, management brought in the expertise of a body language expert to teach its workers how to talk with their upper facial features. The body language expert pointed out, “Individuals are scared proper now, so it’s extra essential than ever for lodge workers to convey a way of security and welcome with their gaze.”
The Halcyon Hotel in Denver, Colorado is making its staff practice “micro expressions,” so guests feel welcome and are having their emotional needs met, according to the hotel’s Director of People and Culture.
Smizing has extended well beyond the hospitality industry. Baptist minister the Reverend Susan Sparks wrote a column in which she merrily described the COVID routine for going shopping: “Donning masks and rubber gloves, we left our apartment with two backpacks, a rolling cart and several container bags, just as if we were preparing for an interplanetary mission.”
She added, “While most people kept a fairly flat facial expression behind their mask as they passed, one young woman looked up and smiled. Instinctively, both my husband and I smiled back at her. How do I know she smiled? Because she smized.”
