h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As my work colleugues filter into work, they all repeat like parrots "morning" "morning" "good morning" "morning" "morning" "morning""good morning"..... to EVERY person thay pass

What is the point of this tiresome tradition? They even make a big issue out of saying "bye" "bye" "see you later.." and that is just when they're going to lunch for gawds sake!

I can barely muster a grunt in the morning, but even when wide awake, when entering a room, the most i'm inclined to offer is a "hi".

Is it just me? Am i being overly petty?

Don't get me wrong, i'm not usually unfriendly- i can talk to folk for hours, it's just the repetiveness of this particular custom that realy annoys and bores me.

I'm afraid i ignore the myriad greetings, so i probably appear ignorant, (think most of my co-workers know not to talk to me in the morning by now anyway), but i don't really care. i just prefer to enter a room unnannnounced that's all- i'm simply turning up like a good wage slave, as i do every bleedin day- i see no reason to herald my arrival!

My boss skips into every morning, so bright and cheerful,it's painful
She gets upset that my reply to her cheerfulness is *I'm here and I'm breathing, what more do you want*

Why should I be cheerful about a job I don't like?


Hel2

Oh yeah, that's a point.. i could just hate my job, and the people who work there. That would explain it

Maybe if i loved what i was doing i would be that annoyingly chirpy 'greeter'

[wonders how many people from work he's told about H2G2]

I just give a general "Hey" or "Bye" to anyone in the room who cares. I don't see the point of some people feeling the need to run around and give every single person a hug and a kiss and "Bye bye darling" every single evening.

It's not just me then

Morning Winnoch2,

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I agree, I usually just give a nod or a "hi".


Mostly Harmless

At work we don't go overboard, one hello or morning per person,

personaly I go nuts, every day on the ride to and from work and when I'm out, I say morning or evening, TO EVERYBODY I PASS!, now you may think this is weird, so do I, but I get such an emense amount of joy from being so anoying to people who are grumpy buggers all the time, you can't exacly go around, 'I hate the world, piss off' people will take offense, instead they can't do anything to you if you just say 'good morning'

-- DoctorMO --

Winnoch - you sound like you should join PUDDING A749784

Nobody said anything to me in the morning until i had had a coffee, and on a Monday they left it until 11am. I am unbearable first thing.

I think it is a bit unecessary to say hello individually to each person in a room, just saying a general Hi is good enough for me.

Actually, i just grunted at people...

Winnoch,

Don't ever move to Spain! When I first moved here I was so shocked (but in a pleasant way) when total strangers in my apartment building or in the lift would say 'hola' or 'buenos días' to me. Then I found out that this is common practice here. Also, upon entering a small shop (butcher, baker, etc) the person will say a general greeting and *everyone* in the shop will respond.

I think it's lovely. The Spanish also don't believe in the '18 inches of personal space' rule either, which I also like.

az

I work in the basement and it's offices rather than open plan that they have through the rest of the building. There's only one other guy in my office and we sort of grunt at each other when we get in in the mornings.

Liam.

eek!

Sounds like the total antithesis of greeting anyone! Does this feel good?

az

Hmmm maybe it's something to do with women...

I want to see an experiment carried out. In an all male, and then in an all female office.

Which one would have the most greetings per hour (gph)

My guess is that the male office would eventually revert to a series of grunts over time. Have to say- that would suit me just fine

For me, the normal greeting is 'Boo!', to which the general response is 'Hey boo!'. Doesn't matter what gender people are - it's just an adequate way of acknowledging other people's existance, and things like whether the morning is a good one or not is a matter of personal opinion. There's too much to say (or not to say) to waste more time on greetings. Grunts can say a lot as well. There's a great difference between 'urgh', 'hmph' and 'argh'. Sometimes grunting is too much effort, particularly in the case of the hangover, in which all that needs to be said can be done by blinking slightly.

A test between male and female offices could be quite fun.

I don't grunt, I usually just sort of nod my head.

There was a guy at my work who would go around and shake hands with every person in his team when he arrived in the morning. Never asked him why, though we were housemates for a year.

Perhaps he had cold hands?

I have no idea, his brother never did it.

In Asia I also had some trouble. I would quite often be greeted, and if seven people yells Hi to you, do you reply seven times or say hi once while pretending to look them all in the eye?

Hmmmm.

Hi once, only prolonged, during which you look round at everyone there?
*shrugs*

So let me get this straight- you recommend saying h i r e a l l y s l o w e l y while gradually scanning the room

Come on now- folk at my work already thing i'm strange- if i start doing that, they'll assume i'm having a stroke and fetch the paramedics.

I think your right Winnoch2
One hello and goodbye a day is enough.
Group or whole room ones are the easiest, takes care of many in one swoop.

Men would grunt