27 September 2008

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

| ninga
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Is it just me or do other people find that when they are out taking a walk along one of Canberra’s many footpaths, when they pass or come across people, if they smile and say ‘hello’ they are usually ignored completely or stared at as if you had said something rude?

Even on a day like today, bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and every reason to be feeling cheerful with spring in the air, the majority of people you meet or pass along a footpath will not return your friendly ‘hello’ greeting.

Surely it’s not that hard, even a nod or quick smile would be SOMETHING.

Alas, I find myself becoming inclreasingly despondant until soon I will give up saying hello and do as everyone else does, stare straight ahead and ignore any attempts by passers by at being friendly.

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I’m sorry if it was me in Macgregor… But I’m deaf – so I wouldnt be able to hear you.

Damn, used the wrong end quote text. Sorry for all the italics…

peterh said :

tylersmayhem said :

I’ve worked in Sydney and London, and I quickly noticed and adjusted to the anonymous behavior there. You put your eyes on the footpath and just walk. Keep the blinkers on and do you own thing – for some bizarre idea of self-preservation.

Agreed Peterh. I spent some time working back in the East End of London in the late 80’s and when walking home was advised by my family there not to make eye contact with most people, especially young blokes (of any racial disposition) when walking home from the pub at night.

AS for Canberra, always say ‘hi’ when walking/riding past others around the lake. I find other cyclists pretty friendly but it’s hit and miss with pedestrians. Older people are more likely to return a smile and say good morning than the younger crowd. I really think though people are just becoming more insular. Even in shops these days people just push past you without saying ‘excuse me’. I used to make sarcastic comments back to them but now I just don’t bother. It’s not worth it.

tylersmayhem10:21 am 29 Sep 08

No; I dont want to be your new best friend forever. Im just acknowledging your existence and the gloriousness of being alive at that particular moment. If you feel the same, maybe say hi back.

Exactly! Good point about non-response because of iPods etc.

tylersmayhem said :

I’ve got a theory on this, and all those from the big cities don’t take immediate offense, as it’s not personal (I’m on a good behavior kick lately 🙂 ) I think because of the mass mobbing of folk from bigger cities like Sydney & Melbourne, they have brought the big city habits with them. I’ve worked in Sydney and London, and I quickly noticed and adjusted to the anonymous behavior there. You put your eyes on the footpath and just walk. Keep the blinkers on and do you own thing – for some bizarre idea of self-preservation.

I found this very hard to adjust to in those cities, and it’s just as hard breaking out of it now I’m back home in Canberra. I’m just putting in a lot of effort to make sure I do say “hi” to people whenever possible (just like I used to) and I find that heaps of people will say hi back on my ride to work or while walking on the weekend.

C’mon everyone, let’s start acknowledging each other more and get Canberra back more like how it was when we were kids.

back when we were kids? you never said hi to a stranger, did you?

since the fires have come through, I know most of my neighbors. We catch up at a new coffee shop in kambah for a brew and chat.

everyone i say hi to acknowledges me, even if they don’t know me.

I am a big fan of the friendly ‘Good Morning!’ as I hoon past the peeps on an early walk around LBG with my son. A beautiful spring morning, with the blossoms blooming and the birds singing; it just feels like the right thing to do, particularly as there seems to be the same groups of people there on a daily basis.
I had a whinge to my husband about this issue of no reply and then thought I’d do a little experiment. One day I made a point of saying hello or good morning to every person I passed. The reponses included; the acknowledging nod, a mumbled hi, a wierd look by the ‘thin girls’, a ‘down the noser’ from the (other;) yummy mummys amid a whole bunch of silence.
At first I thought the silence was just weird/rude and put it down to people being ‘in the zone’. Then I realised that a lot of them actually had tiny little sound machines in their ears and just couldnt hear me!
I think a certain stigma exists around the random use of ‘Hello/Good Morning’. No; I dont want to be your new best friend forever. Im just acknowledging your existence and the gloriousness of being alive at that particular moment. If you feel the same, maybe say hi back.

la mente torbida9:40 am 29 Sep 08

Sorry folks, I walk my dogs each morning down and around Yarralumla Bay. Everyone I run into at least say good morning…many stop and we have a chat about the weather, etc. However, now that winter is passed, there are many ‘johnny come lateleys (sic)’ that do ignore you.

Certainly the rowers are the friendliest bunch of people I have met.

tylersmayhem said :

I think because of the mass mobbing of folk from bigger cities … have brought the big city habits with them.

lol, us Sydney-siders are an unfriendly type 😉

tylersmayhem9:00 am 29 Sep 08

I’ve got a theory on this, and all those from the big cities don’t take immediate offense, as it’s not personal (I’m on a good behavior kick lately 🙂 ) I think because of the mass mobbing of folk from bigger cities like Sydney & Melbourne, they have brought the big city habits with them. I’ve worked in Sydney and London, and I quickly noticed and adjusted to the anonymous behavior there. You put your eyes on the footpath and just walk. Keep the blinkers on and do you own thing – for some bizarre idea of self-preservation.

I found this very hard to adjust to in those cities, and it’s just as hard breaking out of it now I’m back home in Canberra. I’m just putting in a lot of effort to make sure I do say “hi” to people whenever possible (just like I used to) and I find that heaps of people will say hi back on my ride to work or while walking on the weekend.

C’mon everyone, let’s start acknowledging each other more and get Canberra back more like how it was when we were kids.

I always stick my parking ticket back in the machine, where the tickets come out, if there’s no one to hand it on to. I hold open doors too, there’s always someone for whom it’s most efficient and convenient to hold the door for others, and if it’s me, I do it. It’s just common courtesy.

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.

captainwhorebags8:23 am 28 Sep 08

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.

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