This very short story by Anna Davis is like a sharp, funny snapshot of a feeling everyone knows. It shows a single moment where a woman is trapped in a boring business meeting. The whole plot is her struggle to keep a polite face while her body rebels. Her smile hurts, her neck is stiff, and the man talking to her becomes a blur of annoying motions and bad breath. The story’s power is in how it turns an ordinary, awkward situation into something almost surreal, comparing the speaker to a "dying fish."
The story is a perfect bite-sized commentary on modern work life. There is no big event or twist, just the quiet violence of having to pretend you’re okay. The title, “Sitting Straight and Smiling,” is the whole plot and the main conflict. It’s about the mask we wear to be professional, even when we’re screaming inside. You finish reading it in a minute, but it sticks with you because it’s so true—a clever and relatable piece about the small tortures of being polite.Here is the text if the story:
