Greetings

Greetings have always been confusing to me. There are many situations where I am not sure how to greet someone, or even if I should greet them.

So I sit in an office with a guy, and when I get in, I usually mumble a "sup", and go to my chair. That is all well and good, but what happens when we are both in the hallway, and we pass each other? If it was anyone else I knew, I would greet them with a "hey", or wave, or even have a legitimate talk with them. But I have already greeted my office-mate, greeting him again seems wrong. And we can always just talk, and the other guy hears it, so we don't have any need to catch up in the hall. So we both end up looking away from each other, and quickly pass each other.

When I walk into a room of guys and girls that I know about half of, and they get introduced, I am not sure whether or not to go in for the handshake on all of them. If they present their hand I do, and if the president has been set I do, but if they are kinda far away, does the wave cut it? Does the first meeting of a person require physical contact? I say it does not, eye contact is enough to start a relationship.

Then there is the classic, almost the same as leaving situation. Walking into a room with a mix of guys and girls that you have not seen a a while. The girls almost always want a hug, while the guys usually go for a handshake, or variant of a handshake(like a fist bump, or a grab and tap). But if the first greeting is with a girl, and you hug, then the next greeting is a guy right next to her, and you know each other pretty well, there's a chance he goes in for an awkward hug. Now if that lands, you are in for it, everyone in the room is going to hug you, whether you like it or not, so I suggest saving a girl for last, so you don't end your greetings with an unwanted hug.

Ok, next situation, you are walking past a complete stranger, anywhere. I go for the, ignore their existence strategy. But this can lead you into trouble, if they greet you. When they say something like "good morning", you are obligated to respond somehow, but you are in ignore mode, so it usually ends with "yo", or something else really short and not heart felt.

Now here's a situation that doesn't come up as often as it used to. The phone. How do you greet people who you don't know on the phone? I usually just let them talk for a while, get an idea of why they called me, then either respond to them, or tell them i'm not interested in upgrading my phone plan, because I hate talking on phones!