Bridesmaid revisited

My mom raised me to be a smiler, and also that it is a social solecism to point my finger in the shape of a gun and say "POW!" when they annoy me. So I go about smiling at folks, even when the best they offer me in return is a grim look from a sour face.

It used to be that you could generally coax a smile from another woman, and elderly ones would often say things like "Hello" or "Good morning" and men will generally nod pleasantly. But these days, it's hard to raise a smile from anyone and I'm starting to feel a bit stupid, pushing my shopping cart through the grocery store and beaming at people like a fruitcake. People never smile back anymore, and instead look at me at best as if I have some truly unfortunate assortment of dental problems going on (and I don't - I use tooth-whitening toothpaste and I wore braces on my teeth from ages 18-22 and I've only had one cavity in my whole life, so there's nothing there to offend anyone) or at worst as if they'd like to knock me down in the aisle and roll their buggies over my head.

So I'm thinking maybe I'll be able to wake people up a little if I start doing the finger-pistol thing.

What do you think? Grin or gun?