The Evil Eye

There is a man at work who enjoys teasing me. As it's not mean or an annoying kind of teasing, it doesn't really bother me. Every time he sees me, he simply says, "Smile." Then he stands there and stares at me until I smile. I am not much of a smiler. I'm not sure why, I've just never been one to smile a lot. But to get him out of my way, I'll smile.

Today it was time for a little pay back. I was sitting in the break room reading the paper when he walked in. I ignored him so he knocked on my table until I looked up. "You gotta smile," he said. I lifted my head and gave him a death glare. While I may not be much of a smiler, I have the death glare down. I don't even realize it's power. I stared him down until he walked away and went back to the paper.

Later in the day he came up and apologized for bothering me. "I didn't mean to," he said, "I was just playing with you to make you smile."

I told him I knew that. I was just playing with him back. He went on to explain that my look had worried him a great deal. "The stare you gave me ... I really thought I had upset you." No, not really. I was just giving him a taste of his own medicine. He was quite relieved. We'll see if he asks me to smile again tomorrow.