I work at a desk, right by the door where the public enter the building. Part of my job is greeting people. I smile and say hello to people who pass my desk, a third of the people I greet walk past without looking at me, not acknowledging that I exist at all. I know they can see me or hear me, it’s quiet and I’m the only thing in the hallway! I’ve asked my coworkers who take shifts at the same desk, they find people ignore them as well. Is it suddenly not rude to ignore people who speak to you?
—Thank heavens for the other two-thirds
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2009.
No, it’s still rude.
That sucks OP. Kind of makes you feel like less of a person when they do that.
And I bet you’d get in shit with your boss if you stopped greeting people right? Kind of a catch-22 you got going on there.
Technology has made many people much more insular – ipods often act as a barrier against the masses, an easy excuse not to interact. Texting and fucking crap like Twitter have only doubled the effect.
maybe they just read the posts here stating that most younger ladies would rather not have people(men) talk to them. possibly, they assume its just a good idea not to say hello to anyone to avoid confrontation.
seriously though, yes, it is quite rude to ignore someone who has greeted you. growing up in cape breton it would have been very odd not to say “hey, hows she goin by” when walking into an office, or when walking past someone on the street. i suppose its a sign of the times OP.
Growing up in Newfoundland it is much the same for me john, and yeah shit like that drives me nut’s, kinda makes me wish I had a stock of ready to go spitballs and straws for each person that does that…ahhh ..wishful thinking.
Part of the problem is headsets. You never know if they’re talking to you or someone on the phone. But then people ignore a numerous number of employees, janitors, guards, stock people etc.
I wonder how many of the people the OP is talking about were wearing headphones.
Other than that…yeah…stupid not to at least say ‘Hi.’.
By the way, TTFN, do you change your pic often? Maybe some of us have developed an emotional attachment to the Asian, bud-smoking woman in your previous posts. Did you ever think of that? 🙂
Here’s that pic again – I missed the old gal too.
LOL i like that one too TTFN.
Get yourself an air-zooka, if they don’t say hi, blast em, and then look around pretending it wasn’t you.
http://www.sillyasstoys.com/index.asp?Page…
TTFN’s right about the ipods. I find it INCREDIBLY rude when people are interacting at a check out or with people in customer/public service and either don’t turn their ipod off or don’t take their earphones out.
Shit, I always pause my ipod when I go into stores in the mall or am dealing with a cashier or receptionist for example and I take my earphones out (mainly because they’re in ear ones who muffle outside sound, but it’s just RUDE to keep your earphones in as well because the person talking to you doesn’t know if you’ve got your music on or not and they’d feel/look pretty dumb if you couldn’t hear them and they were talking to you). Ugh that buggggs me when people don’t do that. Just as much as people who talk on their cellphones when they’re at a check out or wherever.
I also pause my ipod when I get on the bus or get off because a lot of drivers will say hi or thank you and it’s be pretty rude to just ignore that….it’s rude to ignore people when they talk to you.
Wow, TTFN. I meant the pic you were using just days ago.
I didn’t know you had a collection of them. lol
What really cheeses me off is when people are at a bank let’s say, and then they’re on the cell phone the entire fucking time. It’s that sort of passive aggressive bullshit that society is full of now.
It’s true but in all fairness, some customer service rep’s are just as bad with the cell phones.
with everyone wearing these fuckin blueteeths i find myself speaking to someone who is inaware i am even standing near them…so i just continue yattering on until they give me that look and then i smile
If you’re delivering a forced greeting, because your job demands its, but you still can’t understand why people avoid acknowledging your fake greetings, well, it’s time to shallow a reality pill.
refinedsugar, greeting people is part of their job, technically its forced in that if they don’t do it they get in trouble with the boss but that doesn’t mean it can’t be genuine and it certainly isn’t a reason to ignore them.
OH! That waiter is only bringing my food to the table because he gets PAID to do it. What a fucking phony! Lets ignore the food until he puts it on the table like he really CARES!
Sorry refinedsugar, you sound like an ass.