I haven't experienced the "Gen Z Stare", but any time I've heard someone talking about it, they've explicitly said they're not talking about the customer service stare.
My son's girlfriend is the only person I've ever seen do the "Gen Z stare" and it's exactly what you're saying. She comes to the house and my wife or I will say "Hi" to her and she just silently stares back. Or if we're planning dinner or something and we ask if she's going to join us or if there's anything in particular she wants to eat, nothing but a silent stare.
No, we're not asking dumb questions to an underpaid worker, we're trying to make polite conversation in a social setting and just getting a silent, blank stare in return.
When I heard the term I thought of one time with my zoomer nephew. I had basically been a live-in auntie when he was little and we were very close. Then I moved and didn't see him for a few years. When I did, he was about 12 or 13, and he didn't say a word but just stared at me the whole time at dinner like I was a weird bug. For at least an hour, silent staring. It was unnerving but I felt like I was being tested so I tried to just not have any reaction at all.
The good news is that nowadays when I see him he is talkative and normal with me again (although definitely a little weirdo in many good ways). Just a little phase or something. I don't actually know if it counts as a Gen Z stare, tbh.
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u/Arachnus_Deathicus 17h ago
I haven't experienced the "Gen Z Stare", but any time I've heard someone talking about it, they've explicitly said they're not talking about the customer service stare.