In psychology, the fake or forced smile (the one in which specific muscles of the face are "activated", around the mouth, and not the eyes) has a specific name.
They called it "Pan Am smile", or "Botox smile", derived from the "fake" smile of the flight attendants of the Pan Am airline, who were trained to always smile when around travelers, even when they were unhappy.
Their smile indicated politeness, however it was completely standardized and insincere.
Although Pan Am has left us years now, its smile is still around us all the time…
John Protopapadakis is a marketing and customer service expert. He is a professor, an author (has written 20 business books so far) and a seminar instructor.
