I see a lot of comments about Russians being inherently miserable creatures, the climate not being conducive to smiling and even bad dental work as reasons. Let

I see a lot of comments about Russians being inherently miserable creatures, the climate not being conducive to smiling and even bad dental work as reasons. Let me give an example from another culture where smiling is risky: India. When I first moved there, I quickly realized that people smile only at those they know. Strange women don't smile at you for fear of inviting harassment. Soon as a guy, you don't smile at anyone so as to not invade their space. When I first came to America, I realized that a lot of Americans had this unique and amazing ability to blast you with a radiant smile and cheerily ask after you. It is a meaningless social convention that can get annoying at times. It is always intriguing to me when I travel abroad, how my cheery attitude slowly dissipates and then how the readjustment happens when I come back to America. tl;dr: people are different.