Not too long ago Readers Digest had an article about saying “Hello” to everyone you come across– even waving as you pass in the car. The author tried this for a month and shared some ideas and results from his experiment. It broke stereotypes of who he assumed would say “hello” back and who would have a conversation.
This week I tried this at Wal-mart. Not my favorite place to be, but I was there to get a free rental from the Redbox and some milk for breakfast. I decided to say hi to everyone. If someone responded, I’d tell them the code for a free movie rental from the redbox.
Two pairs said hello back. One pair were friends. I was surprised at how many weird looks and total ignoring happened. Where is our friendliness– I even had a baby with me! Some of the folks who ignored me I later saw in the line at the Redbox…they still ignored me there.
I was more suprised than that author at how many folks wouldn’t respond. But I was pleased in how much more fun I had at Wal-mart than usual.