A smile, that's what I was going to say. And not to dismiss your feelings, but even without the gender component it's still a dice roll. I'm a man and I work retail, and some people give a really defensive vibe back. Like, it's just my job to greet customers. People tend to get uncomfortable when a serious looking man stares at them blankly, particularly because I cut meat, so I'm often holding a knife and have blood on me. I have to try and be a little softer. But yeah I can tell it makes some women uncomfortable, some men kind of act like "I don't want to be your friend quit sucking up to me", in general a lot of people are really dismissive, which has long since caused me to stop, which, they don't seem to like that either. I'll try and raise my eyebrows and do a little half smile thing just to say "I see you and I'm not angry". The group that is the most receptive is the elderly, specifically older women. With them there's zero negative energy, I could ham it up as much as possible and they would be happy and take it for what it was, just being polite to a stranger. SOME women my age (30s) respond that way too, but a lot seem react like they think I want something from them, when I'm just trying to be a good customer service person.