greeting people you don't actually know on the street on you way to work/school....

I usually always smile and say hi

I smile and say hi if she's hot.

Kenan, how did The Man Show producers ever pass you up?

Everyone in Berkeley says hi all the time. It freaks me out.

There was this guy on the tram I saw (and still see) every day, and I wanted to work up the courage to talk to him, but I never did, and now I'm seeing someone anyway so there's no point. Pity. Still, he's probably taken and/or not interested in me anyhow.

that's the spirit!

I think it's f'n' classic. Really puts a shine on the day, y'know?

That's just 'cos I like people though, not like the vast majority of you misanthropes.

Owning a dog downtown puts you in a weird situation with this. Like there are dogs who live in my neighborhood who my puppy recognizes when we walk past them on the sidewalk. It's a little akward for the owners then, puppies are sniffing each others butts as they pass & the humans kind of nod & mumble hello & drag the dogs along.

I don't really get the pseudo-friendly Northwest thing of smiling at strangers on the street. My friend's new girlfriend-who grew up out here-accused me of being a bitch this weekend for ignoring someone who said hello to my puppy when we were walking around. What was I supposed to do, grit my teeth & smile back & then flick him off for interrupting our walk? I like NJ's general assumption that you don't talk to random people you bump into.

It's nice to acknowledge other humans that you encounter on your regular routine. Not to mention polite.

Agreed. I have a major issue with this actually, and have been thinking about doing some research in the form of keeping records re how many people avoid my gaze, don't acknowledge (let alone say hello, which sort of is overkill a lot of the time) on the street and writing some kind of piece on it. At least I found in NY some people will clearly check you out or stare you down, but in SF (I thought this when I moved here 7 years ago and think it even more today) most people will nervously look away if you so much as make eye contact, and it drives me nuts. If you're clearly bumpiing into the same people on your way to work yes you should acknowledge them. I'm not saying stop your routine, become best buddies, etc., but at least a moment of eye contact or a smile is nice. I'm not even the world's nicest person, but I want to extend myself at least this far. The most annoying for me is when you pass someone who is clearly making an effort to look STRAIGHT AHEAD as you pass them... I mean heaven forbid you should actually look at someone. Looking at someone is not the same thing as accosting them, interrupting them, flirting with them or attacking them. Right? Of course, life in the Big City requires you to be cold and distrustful of all people; why should I question this?

not everyone wants to be gazed at by people they don't really know.

I find it near-impossible to talk to people around me on public transport, except in really exceptional circumstances which I will explain. I think this is a real shame, because I look around and see a whole bunch of people who are probably really interesting, and would probably be interested in me, and yet by some bizarre social inconvention we act as if the other doesn't exist!

The exceptional circumstance is when I think of something to say that will surely send the other person/people into fits of hysterical laughter. This happens to me about once a month. For example, earlier in the week I was catching the tram home and there was this woman talking on the phone, angrily ranting and raving. A cute chick got on and sat across from me, and the woman continued to rant. After a couple of minutes I caught the girl's eye and said "I bet her phone's not even switched on," which acheived the desired effect and a pleasant conversation ensued. But WHY the hell do I have to do this to talk to people?! It's just silly, really.

its been happening to me a lot lately. i kind of wear my emotions on my face, its a bad habit that i can't seem to stop. i'm a lot happier these days and people see my big smiling face and greet me as i walk down london street. in the olden days, i tended to do the don't-fuck-with-me look. nobody fucked with me.

So how do you feel about it? Being greeted bcz you're smiling is classic, surely? NOT stopped, harassed, accosted... just greeted. Even I can admit that.

gawd, what is wrong with smiling at someone as you go by? esp. someone you se on the street. what an unsociable bunch o' folk you are.

dogs are also great ways to meet your neighbors. when i lived in queen village in philly, Mario Lanza Park was the gogwalking sppot for the entire neighborhood and we'd just grab beers we'd grab beers to share in the park while dogs ran around. One of these ppl later ended up approving my application when I was moving into a fancy loft so good comes of these things.

What amazes me, is I eat the same thing for lunch every day at the same places, yet the people in the shops never seem to notice or make any kind of acknowledgement. This seems to odd to me, because that's one of the things that I've liked about the places I've lived recently - that people in shops remember you and greet you, even if they don't know your name.

Odd, because that was one of the few things that I enjoyed in Julie Burchill's book - the character lived on Southampton Row, and she mentioned our local shop, and how the staff there really used to abuse the locals (in a jolly friendly sort of way) because in a sea of tourists, the locals stuck out. Burchill's character hated this; I find it strangely reassuring.

We had a local diner in NYC, and the waiter always used to greet us, and ask "the usual?" which was great! I remember the first time this happened in the UK - when I was living in Hoxton, after I'd been going there a few weeks, the waitress at the Market Cafe asked "the usual?" and I was SO HAPPY to be considered a regular.

So if I see the same people day after day on the bus to work or the walk home (which I'm starting to do) I will smile. Except at the driver, because HE IS MY ENEMY THE HORRIBLE DRIVING BASTARD!!!

after taking a really long bus trip on which we concludedthat bus drivers were clearly satan's spawn we changed our mind on the return. basically we concluded if you had to put up with ppl on a bus all day long, you'd become pretty surly and bitter yourself.

I don't care if bus drivers are surly or not, I just care that they don't TRY TO KILL US ALL WITH THEIR TERRIBLE DRIVING!!!

Then again, this morning, that might not have been the driver's fault, but the idiot slow-moving old man on a bicycle who decided that he and his cart containing all his possessions should toodle slowly up the Marylebone Road during rush hour. I'd have just run him down, honestly.

sean - yeah i love it!

kate's right about the bus drivers - but i'd be as homocidal as them after having to deal with the IDIOTIC motorists who have no concept of 'bus lane'. it's quite fun when the bus drivers from rival companies bait each other tho.

Some people hate life.

Yeah, but it's no fun when they see their mates from their own bus companies, especially when your bus stop is the start of the line, so you end up having to stand out in the coldy freezies while they sit on each others' nice warm busses and gossip.

andrew, that's a beautiful and funny story!

It's classic, and I wish I was a nicer guy and said hello to people, but I don't.

I always look up at people as I'm passing them to see how receptive they'd be to a hello, but won't say anything if they look like they don't want to hear it. I like to randomly wave at people, sometimes with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm, while driving, both people in other vehicles and pedestrians (and inanimate objects when I'm feeling especially like myself).