Do you smile at strangers in the street?

[ChildishLegacy]

I'm 16 years old. For some reason in England this puts me below an amoeba in the list of things to acknowledge/interact with and a majority people don't like talking to people that aren't adult in society (or at least in my town D: ). So I've given up on trying to be nice to random people as they normally don't even acknowledge I'm trying to be nice.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

It's hard for me to make eye contact with people. Especially if they are attractive (or what I find the most attractive). The more attractive they are, the harder it is. Even the waiter/waitress, or person scanning all the groceries, etc. Like the guy that was scanning my groceries at the store the other day- he kept smiling at me and trying to make small talk. I felt like putting my face into my handbag.lol It's always a bit awkward, but I try to be polite about it.

 

[C95J]

If they look at me then yeah, I do smile. It's just the polite and nice thing to do

 

[LuckyClover95]

I'm 16 years old. For some reason in England this puts me below an amoeba in the list of things to acknowledge/interact with and a majority people don't like talking to people that aren't adult in society (or at least in my town D: ). So I've given up on trying to be nice to random people as they normally don't even acknowledge I'm trying to be nice.

Nooo! I (the ever important OP) am also a 16 year old living in England and I find that if you smile at people they are likely to realize we are not all shitheads. When you make an elderly persons day with a short friendly exchange it goes against what they expected you to do (ie, stab them)

 

[pspman45]

I wave usually, its a nice thing to do.
it strikes me as odd that I hardly see anyone else do it, it seems like everyone doesn't care about anybody else, like we live in a heartless society

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

Yup, I say hello as well if they are close enough. People tend to respond to the greeting more often than the smile though.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

I'm 16 years old. For some reason in England this puts me below an amoeba in the list of things to acknowledge/interact with and a majority people don't like talking to people that aren't adult in society (or at least in my town D: ). So I've given up on trying to be nice to random people as they normally don't even acknowledge I'm trying to be nice.

Nooo! I (the ever important OP) am also a 16 year old living in England and I find that if you smile at people they are likely to realize we are not all shitheads. When you make an elderly persons day with a short friendly exchange it goes against what they expected you to do (ie, stab them)

Old people are normally quite nice, it's the 25-40 year olds that seem to think they're 'above' younger people.

 

[Le_Lisra]

Never when I lived in Berlin.

But here in the Netherlands, people are *generally* more friendly, and so I smile at strangers sometimes. It's cool.

 

[LuckyClover95]

I'm 16 years old. For some reason in England this puts me below an amoeba in the list of things to acknowledge/interact with and a majority people don't like talking to people that aren't adult in society (or at least in my town D: ). So I've given up on trying to be nice to random people as they normally don't even acknowledge I'm trying to be nice.

Nooo! I (the ever important OP) am also a 16 year old living in England and I find that if you smile at people they are likely to realize we are not all shitheads. When you make an elderly persons day with a short friendly exchange it goes against what they expected you to do (ie, stab them)

Old people are normally quite nice, it's the 25-40 year olds that seem to think they're 'above' younger people.[/quote

Tru dat.

NOT A LOW CONTENT POST, I SAID WHAT I HAD TO SAY.

 

[Aur0ra145]

I smile at everyone. I get good reactions 98% of the time. Additionally, I tend to strike up conversations with anyone walking in the same direction as me. It's just my personality, I'm naturally friendly.

 

[IneptInception]

When I'm on holiday, I have no idea why, I do.

Something about being completely lost, and not understanding a word around me, drives me to be a happier person.

 

[Dragonpit]

I'll smile and say a weak hello to passersby. Reactions have varied, but nothing ever resulted in anything as large as a conversation (good or bad), let alone a friendship.

 

[SamuelT]

Yeah, sure. The ones that scowl at me I actually say "Good X" against, to either be polite or just fuck with 'em that the all powerful scowl doesn't work on me.

 

[Drtfgf5]

I always have a smirk, ya know a little smile on the right side of my mouth.
So I'm always smiling. =D

 

[OhSnap]

I don't. I'm the one who keeps their eyes down and walk to wherever I'm going as quickly as I can. <<;

 

[DoctorPhil]

No, we here in Holland are never nice to strangers on the street. We are all cynical bastards that ignore each other when it comes to starngers on the streets. Yet when the ice is broken we're really nice to each other, the problem is just that the ice is never broken.
So, nope. If someone smiled at me however, I'd smile back, that only once happened before, it was a cute girl, but being an awkward dork, I awkwardly half-smiled back and looked at the ground. However if that would ever happen again, I'd smile back dammit.

 

[Davey Woo]

I usually tend to just look at the floor infront of me when I'm walking, but if I catch eye contact with anyone I'll probably smile. I tend to smile at people with dogs, I don't really know why I do it, there's a lot of people who'll duck into front gardens to keep away from people with dogs, I guess maybe I do it to show the owner i'm not worried about the duck.

 

[Hexenwolf]

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.

How do people make eye contact if you keep your head down? Do you scowl exclusively at midgets and children?

OT: I occasionally smile at random folk if we walk past each other. Depends on my mood. I've literally never had any bad experiences with it. I mean, some people will smile back, some people will ignore me, but I've never had someone get angry or randomly start talking to me.

 

[The Hero Killer]

Only at the females, and even then only at the females that wont accuse me of stalking or give me a look of disgust while I smile at them. With the guys I might give the provincial "whats up" head nod.