I Was Born With a Resting Bitch Face – Chapter 8 – Hahaha

How often do you actually smile when you type “hahaha”?

Okay, if you’re texting a friend, probably pretty often.

But what if you’re working?

I worked mostly online for almost ten years.

Clients. Emails. Messages. Meetings.

And a lot of “hahaha.”

Which, in my case, rarely involved actual laughing.

“Hahaha, no worries!”

Translation: I sent you an invoice ten days ago. Where is my money?

“Hahaha, sounds good!”

Translation: What exactly are we doing today? Because apparently nobody knows.

“Hahaha, I understand!”

Translation: I would rather walk my dog right now. And I don’t even want to walk my dog.

See?

Perfectly friendly.

No facial muscles involved.

The internet was wonderful for my resting bitch face.

I could be polite, cheerful, funny, and incredibly pleasant without changing my expression once.

Until one particular client.

We somehow started discussing Game of Thrones.

There was just one small problem.

I’d never watched a single episode.

Not one.

But I was a professional.

So I opened a forum discussion in another tab and started reading.

Apparently, I had opinions.

Strong ones.

“Hahaha, exactly!”

“Oh, I know!”

“Hahaha, right?”

I was doing great.

The client was happy. We had something in common.

Except we didn’t.

Then I remembered we had a conference coming up.

An actual conference.

With actual people.

And this particular client would be there.

Worse, the final season was coming.

Which meant there was a very real possibility we’d discuss it.

Face to face.

My “hahaha” was about to need a face.

So I watched every season.

In three weeks.

Practically nonstop.

Years of avoiding unnecessary smiling had prepared me for many things.

Pretending to be a Game of Thrones fan in person wasn’t one of them.

And after watching the whole thing, I had another problem.

There was almost nothing in that show to smile about.

People died.

People betrayed each other.

People died because somebody betrayed them.

Occasionally, a dragon appeared.

Then more people died.

Honestly, it was starting to remind me of our school literature.

But at least now I could discuss it without a forum tab open.

And if my client wondered why I looked so serious?

Well.

I’d watched seven seasons of Game of Thrones in three weeks.

What exactly was I supposed to be smiling about?

Hahaha.