Do you smile at strangers in the street?

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LuckyClover95

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Jun 7, 2010
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When you are walking down the road and someone you don't know is approaching do you smile? If so, do you tend to get a good response? Have you ever made friends or enemies from this?
My friends mum, for 2 years smiled at this same woman every day on the way to work. After 2 years, the woman asked her to coffee and they became friends. N'yaaaw!
I smile at everybody in the street, I find a slight majority smile or nod back, a lot of people don't and occasionally for some reason they start talking to me or following me :/
Discuss y'all
 

Instinct Blues

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Jun 8, 2008
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LuckyClover95 said:
I smile at everybody in the street, I find a slight majority smile or nod back, a lot of people don't and occasionally for some reason they start talking to me or following me :/
Discuss y'all
I'm pretty sure they start talking to you because you smiled at them which leads them to believe that you want to talk to them. I don't smile at strangers in the street because I just think thats weird and things like conversations I don't want or even worse people following me can happen.
 

Necator15

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Jan 1, 2010
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Depends where I am and what mood I'm in. If I'm in an area that I know people are typically polite (Near home) I'll smile, wave, maybe have a little chat with people I pass. If I'm somewhere less hospitable, say, Boston, I probably won't.
 

LuckyClover95

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Jun 7, 2010
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Instinct Blues said:
LuckyClover95 said:
I smile at everybody in the street, I find a slight majority smile or nod back, a lot of people don't and occasionally for some reason they start talking to me or following me :/
Discuss y'all
I'm pretty sure they start talking to you because you smiled at them which leads them to believe that you want to talk to them. I don't smile at strangers in the street because I just think thats weird and things like conversations I don't want or even worse people following me can happen.
I don't think it means conversation. As I said, a majority smile back, they understand it doesn't mean conversation.
 

GodofDisaster

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Sep 10, 2009
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It depends if I know them or not, I'm to shy to smile at strangers, but if a stranger smiles at me, in a friendly way not creepy than I'll smile back. I also say hello or talk a bit if I know the person really well.
 

Scabadus

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Jul 16, 2009
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Nope I keep my head down on the street and scowl at anyone who makes eye contact. Means I'm almost never stopped by people asking the time or trying to sell me a magazine and I can just go wherever I'm going.
 

Burs

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Jan 28, 2011
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I always smile at people or keep a smile as I generally spend the day, Its polite and it shows everyone else that you enjoy life ^.^

When im running I always say "Good day" to people but that almost always is returned by grunts or just plain ignored.
 

Akytalusia

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Nov 11, 2010
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i don't smile at anyone for any reason. it's been my experience that my smile is CREEPY, and kinda makes me look like i'm thinking about how fun it would be to kill you or something.

edit: wich is ridiculous, cause i'm the most harmless pacifist you'll never meet...
 

Bezz_Ad

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Apr 4, 2011
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Only if they smile first. Which isn't very often, thankfully.

One time, at a bus stop some guy smiled, I smiled back, next thing I know, he was offering me a ride to his house. So yeah.
 

dancinginfernal

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Yes, I live in a fairly small town of about 4,500. Always friendly, for the most part.

Lots of "Good Mornings" and " G'afternoon, son." I live in New Hampshire, in the U.S.
 

spartan231490

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Jan 14, 2010
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I do. most people smile or nod back. occasionally one will wave, which actually seems awkward. I've never made a friend like this, but I'm not trying to. very rarely someone will stop and talk to me, but I don't usually walk around unless I have somewhere to be, so whatever.
 

kidd25

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Jun 13, 2011
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i either smile, do something crazy friendly like, or do something that would make them hate me the moment they saw me.
 

Blunderboy

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I am usually always polite, although mostly towards my elders, seeing as those younger than me seem to hold manners in total disregard. I know I'm generalizing here but I can only go by what I see.
I will add that I do often have the urge to go up to London and spend the day on the Underground, being nice to commuters all day, just to confuse them.
Seriously, I hate the underground, but no one on there seems even the slightest bit happy with their life, and if you are nice to them, they give you a look of such utter confusion, as if the mere thought of letting someone off or on before yourself is somehow alien.
 

Kingsnake661

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I've been told by people that i don't smile much at all. Which i, and my friends find odd, as I'm a pretty happy go lucky guy... Alway joking around, rarely serious. I guess my face just doesn't default to a smile like other peoples do. *shrug*

So, do I smile? prolly not, but i do tend to nod at people if we make eye contact. Like an egnologment. I just think it's polite. They tend to do roughly the same. I've also been known to crack a joke or two with random strangers if we happen to be stuck in a long line, or otherwise interact with each other. In otherward I always try and be friendly to everyone i meet. They tend to react in kind. I've had no real "bad" reactions. Which is, kind of to be expected. Why would be rude to someone who's just trying to be nice to you? Should to happen to me, well, I guess I'd just chulk it up to them having a bad day or something. Differently not going to let it get to me.

Have i ever made any friends this way? Yeah, I suppose. Years back when i was new at my job, new at my church, or new at school, i had to start somewhere. LOL. Smile, brake the ice, get to know people. Have i ever developed a close friendship from a random stranger i'd meet out on the street? No, but then, It takes time for me to develop "close" friendships, I'm not really much of a social butterfly and dispite the fact i go out of my way to be nice to people, i'm not really an outgoing person by nature. I'd imagan a more outgoing person may have different result.

But at the end of the day, i recommend smiling at people and trying to be as nice as possible.