'Hello' 'Hello' It's not that hard!

What goes around comes around, look for it and you will see it every day.
Try it if you don’t already, you might get a feeling you’ve not felt before.

I always pass my parking tickets on when there it worth something to someone. Last time it was to a farmer who looked like he was going to be scratching the coins together to park his old ute. The relief on his face said thanks even before he could utter the words.

I lived in Adelaide for a while where people would rush to open shop doors for me as I pushed my pram around. My first shopping trip in Canberra was memorable for struggling to get a pram through the door of a post office whilst 2 people behind me got frustrated because I took too long. It would have been much easier for them to give me a hand than to summon up the look on their faces that made them look like slapped arses.

Its about not being so self absorbed to notice that a simple act can help another. Canberra likes to think of itself as a city with a country feel. It should embrace some more of the country values if it wants to achieve this.

I think you are mistaking a societal phenomenon for a Canberra one. People are less friendly to strangers than there were a decade ago, but that’s the same everywhere you go. I think it is related to the media-driven fear-circus that surrounds us today, which people react to by ignoring and being fearful of strangers.

Also, it’s a matter of context. Do you walk along the street saying hi to everyone you see? If so, why? That is odd behaviour to start with. I am friendly and polite to people in context (ie. when there is a reason for us to interact – waiting for a bus together, etc.) and they generally return the favour, but if I went around trying to engage everyone I saw in some form of communication they’d think I was crazy and probably run away, and rightly so.

Oh, and try saying hi to someone in Sydney – it is far ruder and more aggressive than Canberra. Melbourne, OTOH, is about the friendliest place in the world.

I hold doors open for men and women. Most people thank me. Some don’t.

Agreed, RG. And it’s always ungrateful, nose-in-the-air type sheilas. (I don’t hold the door open for blokes).

I’ve never had my level of cheer to strangers go without reciprocation. It’s the people who don’t even so much as nod a thank you when you hold a door open for them that really gets me.

is it the ‘canberra snob’ or the ‘canberra snub’?

i promise this is a serious question – i never did figure it out…

Well done.

Now can we have something on topic?

Oh, Bundy!

*chuckle*

And yet one more time. I need a life!!

And again

Gusess I’ll just have to try again, eh?

Just to be clear, a three post nutbag rating requires getting three posts in before anyone else can comment.

Merely making three posts in the one discussion doesn’t, of itself, rate nutbag status.

look behind the sofa, p1… my girlfriend found jesus – he was there the whole time…

don’t despair, ninga. i wave to passersby on my cycle on the path, and usually nod and say ‘g’day’ when walking same, ‘specially when i have my friendly hound with me. if they don’t respond appropriately, i have the dog savage them and tear their arteries from their throat. well, as they walk off, that’s what i wish would happen sometimes…

is it that hard? and so no, it isn’t you.

and like you, bundy [the three post nutbag!] i also give my time-rich parking voucher away if i can. and wave to acknowledge traffic etiquette and the like. i wish my hound was with me when i let people in and they don’t so much as notice my existence. and i’m a big bloke, you can hardly miss me! it is all a sign of the arrogance of our times and i despair at the lack of simple manners. we live in sad times.

Gucci”s SOoo over whorebags.

Try Prada.

It’s very much location dependent. Walking around Lake Tuggeranong, or really anywhere in the southern suburbs I live, people are happy to smile and greet.

Lake BG, less so. I’ve walked around Forrest, Deakin and Red Hill where people actually look annoyed that I’m in their personal space. They could probably tell that my walking clothes didn’t cost $500 at some gucci store.

…about losing their bus money or the Red Cross….

I hate it when I lose my red cross…

I am usually too absorbed in my own self-importance to notice the all trolls dragging their knuckles past me. Sorry, ninga.

Me too, Bundy. I’m very bored.

*sigh*

I’ve just done two quizzes on Facebook, but I gave up on the tattoos one. It was too hard.

Unless I’m talking about Action buses.

“Chuckle”

Just did that because I’ve never been a three post nutbag, and I’m a teensy bit bored.

Bundybear said :

And i hang out the car window to give people my parking ticket if it has a half decent amount of time left on it.

that always makes my day when people do that for me 🙂
i also sometimes put a bit of change in the parking meter next to mine if it has run out

Oh, I forgot that I also make a point of always acknowledging people who let me into the flow of traffic when merging, or coming out of a side street, etc. Veritable font of bubbling sunshine.

i will always at least smile at people, and if they say hi to me i will always say hi back. I find that (on the very few occasions i have) if you try to avert your eyes from the approaching person it becomes very awkard and the passing seems to take forever.
i find that people are usually friendlier in the suburbs than around the city. I guess its because people are less stressed..??

Can’t imagine it being a very successful pastime around the city area, but anywhere else I am, I always look at people and give them a cheerful ” G’day/ ‘Morning/ How’s it going?” or similar, and I get some sort of acknowledgement about 90% of the time. I also wave at my neighbours – this in the broadest sense, probably a couple of 100 people in my general area that I have laid eyes on at some time. And I nearly always talk to people in lifts, the exception being when others are in conversation already, and so on. And i hang out the car window to give people my parking ticket if it has a half decent amount of time left on it.

The fact I get a good response may have something to do with the fact that I bear a reasonable resemblance to a rather jolly hermit chap from up north who has a reputation for making lists assessing peoples behaviour with a view to an annual bonus, but I prefer to think that it’s my sunny disposition making other peoples days brighter.

Don’t give up Ninga, you never know who needs to see a smiling face, you may just be the highlight of someone’s day. Maybe mine. 🙂

Whatsup said :

Its not just you. That is one of the things I noticed when moving to Canberra.

Same here, it was quite the culture shock coming from friendly Melbourne to snobby Canberra. An example – my fiance lived in the same set of units in Ngunnawal for 18 months before realising that one of her co-workers, with whom she spoke on the phone every single Friday, lived directly across from her.

Canberra is not a friendly place.

Out in the suburb pretty much everyone I say hello to responds.

In the city though, I just tend not to bother because almost everyone who approaches with a smile and greeting is actually acting, and trying to trick me into engaging with them so they can deliver a spiel about losing their bus money or the Red Cross or mobile phone plans.

Its not just you. That is one of the things I noticed when moving to Canberra.

I still acknowledge people when I am out walking. Smiling or nodding your head isn’t too much effort. Don’t give up, because it might just be me coming the other way.

I will go, “Gosh, another person on the path! What to do?”

I am basically a pretty friendly person, but I won’t want to make you uncomfortable so I will try to pick up some non-verbal body language type clue about what you would prefer to do.

If you look like you want to be left alone I will avert my eyes, but if you make eye-contact I will beam at you and exchange a pleasantry.

The social awkwardness is a bit like when you get on a bus and nobody knows where to look.

I suspect that in days gone by, plain old manners would have this sort of thing all worked out.

When I was a teenager I smiled at everybody, and enough people ignored me that I have modified my behaviour as described above. It’s a shame, really.

But I will always smile back at you, ninga!!

: )

Early morning walkers around fadden pines always say ‘morning’ . . . try there!

I find a quick non-committal smile is a good start. I am sufficiently terrifying to behold that most people usually run at this point.

Perhaps some smart soul can print up signs or badges that say “I am not (a) a Scientologist, (b) an insurance salesman, (c) an ACTEWAGL customer adviser, (d) a political candidate. Add whatever is needed.

yeah i usually say hi, but i’ve stopped since everyone looks at me weirdly when i say it.