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When walking into something like a waiting room of your doctor, do you say hello to the people there? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

58 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm asking because it's a very normal thing to do here.

When you enter a room, but also things like a hairdresser or say a small cafe, you say hello to the people there and say goodbye when leaving. Or when taking a bus, you say hello to the driver and goodbye or thank him when getting off.

I was only recently told by some online friends of mine that this is pretty weird in other places. So I'm wondering if I'm (or my country) is the weird one or them

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here in the US, there are a lot of regional cultures so the "rules" vary a lot from place to place. Using one of your examples, it's very common where I live to greet the driver when you get on a bus and thank them when you leave. But I've been told that would seem weird in other parts of the country.

I would never greet an entire waiting room at a doctor's office. I'd assume most of the people there are anxious and/or not feeling well and not in the mood for social interaction. Excluding organized events (conferences and meetings and the like), I can't think of any circumstance where I would say hello to an entire room of random strangers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

PNW here, most people don't really greet the driver on the bus but a lot of them do thank the bus driver when leaving the bus so that's interesting.

And yeah, no one is greeting a room full of strangers up here. No way in hell.