Oh my God, that guy just said "Hello" to me...

I actually heard a girl say this to one of her friends after a guy said hi to her at the bar. This to me was one of the worst scenes of indecency I have ever experienced. I thought, how rude, and for a blink I thought "women are evil", but then I knew better than to generalize a whole sex based on one wafer-like hipster. BUT THIS raises the question...

Is it creepy to say hello to someone you don't know? Why is it creepy?

It's because of all the stupid cliches and broken telephone stories people have constructed in their heads about when it is OK, and when it is not OK, to simply say 'hello'. Basically as people in the year 2008, we want to appear so important and busy and en route to our destinations. "I have to go here so I am traveling please don't disturb me' is what we are saying all the time without saying it. Our society projects that anyone who has the time to stop and have a conversation isn't important enough to stop and have a conversation with. They aren't working hard enough; they don't matter. This is complete nonsense and the problem with society. We say 'hi' only under the most business related and scripted instances. Personally, I only want to say 'hi' to people I don't know. People I do know, I have already said 'hi' to enough that I don't want to anymore.

So on national 'hello' day, here are some myths we worry about when contemplating saying hello to strangers:

-I can't say hello to that beautiful girl she's listening to her ipod and probably wants to be alone because a girl that wears an ipod has a boyfriend.

-I can't say hello to that person, she's walking fast with her head down. This means she's obviously in a rush to get somewhere and if I try to talk to her, I will be showing her I don't have a job because I don't respect punctuality.

-If I say 'hello' to this person she is going to tell me to 'fuck off'. I will appear like a creep in-your-face douchebag if I try to engage in conversation with this person because it is disrespectful and perverted to force your greetings onto someone you would like to get to know better.

-I would say 'hello' but she's on the other side of the street and if I cross to say hi, I'll look like this was my intention, and I don't want that. Last thing I want is a girl to think I'm intentionally going out of my way to do something for her, or wait, is that right?

-I can't say 'hello' to that person because other people are within earshot and I don't want them to think I do this all the time. This might start a rumbling of 'who the, what the, this guy, who's this guy, get him outta here, blah blah..."

-Only crazy people say 'hello' to people for no reason other than to say 'hello'. That's how you can tell someone is crazy; if they just say hello for no reason other than to be nice.

So in response to these mythical cognitions, tomorrow I am going to see how many compliments I can make to random people and I will attempt to break as many of these as possible. I will record them on my blog as well as the reaction.

I will compliment everyone I want to compliment. If I see someone who I think is attractive, has nice shoes, or just plain looks interesting, I will compliment them.

Random people that I want to say hello to or that look like someone I might be interested in talking to I will say hi to.

Here it goes. I'm nervous as hell. For no reason really...