do you smile at strangers?

[love]

in non-covid times (without a mask), i mean

here it’s not too uncommon to like...kinda smile at someone if you cross paths.  sometimes we even give a quick hello even if we don’t know the person.

i’ve been told that this is unique to very specific parts of the US and almost nowhere else 

[rananicolee]

I live in Texas and absolutely. It's a polite thing to do. Now with masks, I do a little nod. 

[taenguri]

yeah ofc...a little smile and nod to people we walk past (if it's just walking past someone on the street not if there's like...a hundred people)

[No1]

Yep. I came from a small town and it was common there. Moving to the city, no one in my neighborhood even said hello to each other, and we got strange looks at first, but now everyone smiles and says hello.

[Member]

If I accidentally make eye contact with someone walking towards me then I'll smile a bit, but I usually try to look straight forward when I walk

[lighterxx]

Yes

[himi]

No. It's uncommon in my country to smile at strangers. People will think you're weird if you do

[satoori]

1 hour ago, rananicolee said:

I live in Texas and absolutely. It's a polite thing to do. Now with masks, I do a little nod. 

 

[Geeminy]

No. It's common where I live in the US to smile or say Hi when passing strangers. I've always found it weird...

[Anii]

No. It's not something that people over here do. 

[Kitsune]

It's quite common here. If you walk by someone and make eye contact. I'll usually smile and/or nod. It also depends on the person. Sometimes the stranger won't even pay attention to me. Sometimes they are super friendly and say hi along with it. You gotta kind of read the person. As a shy person myself I usually only do it if they initiate it first but yeah it's quite common and I've never really thought much about it tbh.

[Guest]

This is not common at all in my country! 

If you were to smile or say hello to random strangers in the street, people would definitely think your weird or up to something! Like trying to flirt with them, or sell them something, or ask for something,...

Same with small talk, it's extremely uncommon to start small talk with stranger here!

[gibi]

Sometimes, it's common in my country so I'm used to it 

Edited January 15, 2021 by jiyo

[Nelkoya]

Yep, smile and nod. When it's someone I know from afar (like a neighbor even if I never talked to them) I also say hello.

Even with the mask I keep smiling and nodding

[taeyang_is_the_sun]

i really try not to because it encourages people to talk to me which i absolutely dont want

i may do it if its a knee jerk reaction and i dont remember to suppress it, or if the person is older than me, or if they do it first