What happened to the simple act of saying "Hi" to a person you pass in public after making eye contact?

Question

Why do people look deliberatly at a stranger in public and then (with "effort") avoid even returning a passing "Hi"? If you were looking at the person that hard... then why not return a simple acknowledgement?

Answer 1

People are afraid these days. They are afraid that the simple gesture of being courteous, would lead to something else, some personal involvement that they want nothing to do with. That or they simply were not taught courtesy. :)

Answer 2

I, always at the least smile at another person. But some people are just to shy.

Answer 3

I will always try to say hi back but sometimes I'm honsetly caught off guard. Maybe they pass too quickly and I don't hear the Hi till it's too late. Sometimes I'm not expecting anyone to talk to me and then I stumble to find my response back to them. And mostly it's because we're in a rude society, especially  my part of town so I REALLY don't expect people to say hello anymore. When I first moved here people gave me weird looks for waving to them as they walked past my home! Rude!!!

Answer 4

I live in a busy city - if I said 'hi' to everyone I passed, it'd take me all day to get anywhere!

But I see what you mean - I used to work in a hospital and I'd say 'hello' to people, but this one woman was so strange.  She'd (reluctantly) say hello when you first saw her that day, but if you passed her in the corridor later, she'd avoid eye contact - as if she was thinking 'well I've spoken to her today so I won't say anything else'.

Answer 5

I don't know why, I do it all the time, Hi, Hello, and hey. Especially if it is a pretty gril. Can,t let one get bye, with out saying some things.