I have a pet peeve.
No, it’s not the assholes who don’t return their carts at Costco.
Well, that is one of my biggest pet peeves.
But this one is bigger.
I’ve written about it before.
It’s something that seriously pisses me off.
Something that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why people do to one another.
Or don’t do to one another.
I am getting really tired of walking down a hallway or across a parking lot or into a building and passing someone along the way who pretends to have no idea I am there.
And I’m not talking about just the people who I know who blow right past me.
(And yes, there are many of those people. Mothers of kids that my kids go to school with who just walk right by without batting an eyelash).
No, I’m talking about everyone.
What is wrong with people that they do not acknowledge each other?
I just don’t get it.
How can you walk past another human being and pretend like that person doesn’t even exist?
Shouldn’t humans acknowledge other humans?
Even if you don’t know them?
Is it so hard to just be polite and say hello?
And if you just can’t muster up the energy to do that, even crack a smile?
Come on, people!
Lighten up!
Spread some fucking cheer! Or at least some basic human decency and respect.
I have a friend who just moved up here from the South.
She has also noticed that the smiling muscles of the people here in Connecticut are severely underdeveloped.
Being the polite Southerner that she is, instead of giving them the finger, she did something else.
She started a Facebook page.
It’s called How About Smiling?
I think you should like it.
Even if you don’t live here in Connecticut.
Spread some love.
In addition to that, how about a challenge?
The next parking lot you walk through or hallway you walk down or building you enter, do three things to every single human within 10 feet of you:
1) Make eye contact.
2) Smile.
And
3) Say hello.
It won’t kill you.
But on the off chance that it does,
well,
at least you’ll know you were being nice on your way out.
HAHA Love the last sentence or two..if you die..what a way to go..with a smile on your face
I agree with you totally on this. I’ve also encountered many people (in Arizona) who do the same thing. They will act like you;’re not even there and some of them have this condescending attitude like they are better than everyone else. What is with that?! Just sooo not nice to be like that!
people don’t give eye contact or acknowledge people as they walk by because they might want to stop and *gasp* talk….I always (at the very least) give a head nod. Usually its a head nod and a “hi”…..(those are reserved for strangers) but here in MI if we know each other…..we (most of the time) stop and chat….but I suppose that’s because most of us have roots in the south.
(and if we can’t chat for long….we normally say “Im in a super big hurry so I can’t chat long” and stand there for 20 minutes chatting)
Guilty. Okay, not often, I am usually a great smiler. Especially if he’s a hottie! But there are those days when I’m just too pissed off at the world or even those times when I was in the throes of grief. Those are not super smiley days. And sometimes maybe we just have to accept that.
I always make a point of saying hi,usually first, and nearly always get a return hi – the few who don’t get an “asshole” under my breath
Maybe a lot of these people are like me – strangers who want to blend in, who don’t want other people noticing them because of body image, who won’t make eye contact because of anxiety or won’t smile because of dental issues. Please don’t assume every stranger is simply being rude.
I live in CA and no one smiles or says hello here. Here it’s keep your head down and look forward. Its so unfriendly and cold.
When I took my husband (at the time boyfriend) to Oregon to visit family for the first time he keep asking me “do you know that person?” because everyone waves at stop signs or smiles and says hello on the streets. It was a shock to him. He said everyone was so friendly and seemed so happy. We went to Starbucks and the lady asked what we had planned for the day and then gave him tips on a nice place to hike close to where we were going. He pulled out of the drive thru and looked at me and said he wanted to move.
I lived in Oregon for a few years so I am a rare California who smiles and says hello.
I agree that people in CT keep to themselves. I lived in VT for six years and everyone was super friendly. I moved to CT when my oldest was a year old. She is talker and LOVED to say hello to people. She said hello to EVERYONE in the supermarket and EVERYONE got a kick out of her and responded back with a hello. My first trip to a CT supermarket started with my daughter saying hello to EVERYONE. She got blank stares and a look from people that said, “Why is that baby talking to me?” Sad, very sad.
I also try and smile. It’s what we do in Kansas….
I’m from Montreal and moved to this area, Brookfield CT, about 20 years ago. That was the biggest adjustment I had to make here. People don’t ever acknowledge each other. It was very strange to me when I first moved here. My husband actually said to me, “stop saying hello to everyone, it makes people uncomfortable ” WTF! Really!!!, people are uncomfortable with being acknowledged, what happened to being polite?
I had to venture to Wal-Mart today and encountered one of my pet peeves.
There is only ever one parking spot and in this magical available space there always appears to be an exploded adult size diaper.
What are people doing and why must they be just sooooo nasty? UGH#@!