At the Risk of Being Cliché
A ranting post about a failed social experiment to follow:
So, as some of my followers know from my accent challenge, I greet people I meet by opening with “Greetings!”. This started out as just a way to mix up saying hello because I grew tired of always saying “Hey” in a half-hearted way or “howdy”, which was way too cowboy for my likes.
However, as I learned more about psychology and how people behave, my standard greeting turned into a little bit of a social experiment. In saying “Greetings!” people I talk to usually smile, and have a more upbeat conversation simply because…you don’t hear “greetings” used that often by people and it gives off a kind of science-fiction or fantasy vibe to people. So I love using “Greetings” just because it reflects my character (as sci-fi nut) and it often makes people happier and more upbeat, which is amazing to accomplish with just one word.
It wasn’t until my trip to France a few years ago that I came to realize how far this salutation had become ingrained as part of my character. As is normal, in the morning all the students meet in the dinning hall of the hotel to have breakfast, and one girl said, “Good morning!”, to which I responded, “Good morning” without any thought. It was morning, and I do say other things than “Greetings” all the time. However, I learned that the girl had actually taken my change in normal salutation as an indication that I didn’t like her, which was completely false. I wasn’t close friends with the girl in question, but I didn’t dislike her…it was just morning and I said, “good morning”. However, this was the first time I became aware that people expect me to say “Greetings” just because that’s the initial impression they get of me, and if I don’t say it…they translate that into me not acting to that character.
This wasn’t the purpose of the experiment. Normally people don’t go around thinking that the way they greet someone reflects who they are, and if they change that people may seriously reflect a change. However, I didn’t stop saying “greetings”, and most of the people I know well just think that’s part of my personality, and like normal don’t think any differently if I happen to say something else. Yet, it seems that a new problem has arisen.
Recently, a girl from my High School, who now also attends my University, has been going out of her way to say hello to me if she even sees me, just for the sake of me saying “Greetings” in reply. Now, it’s unmistakable that this girl has feelings for me, but I care not to reciprocate. However, she seems not to understand this since I keep saying “Greetings” every time she yells out a hello. Moreover, she’s started to do something that is most definitely not part of the experiment. The purpose of the social experiment is to make people happier, even if for just a moment. Yet, it seems that this girl is using it to make fun of me. She’s going out of her way to get me to say it, and then after I do her friends and herself laugh at me. No one likes being laughed at, but I really do not like people that go out of their way to have an excuse to laugh at me…especially when the purpose is to make people happier, not to be cruel. Now I know she doesn’t mean to be mean at all, if anything she just takes great joy out of me saying “Greetings” because she likes me, but the point is not for me to be laughed at as a result.
Okay…so I think that’s the end of my ranting. Thank you strangers of the internet for reading…hope it wasn’t overly cliché…on the verge of High Schooler-ish. But it’s good to just rant.
