Saying Hello with a Compliment to Everyone

Alexis Sandozequi

Professor Banuelos

Sociology 100

11/17/14

Saying Hello with a Compliment to Everyone

        There are so many norms of our culture that could be easily broken and have a positive effect. An example would be to say hello to anyone you walked past. What is so wrong about saying hello? It could brighten up someone’s day and you would not even know it. A person could be ready to end their life and just by walking up to them and saying hi could change their mind. A stranger came up to me once before and said “Hello. You are very beautiful,” and then walked away. My spirits were lifted that day and I knew that I wanted to give the same feeling to others. This was the norm that I decided to break for this assignment, which I really enjoyed.

Saying hello to a complete stranger is socially equivalent to skydiving. The purpose for not saying hello to strangers would be that at a very young age, we are taught not to talk t strangers at all. Everyone knows the very popular phrase, “stranger danger.” It is hard to break the norm because of all the kidnappings we see on the news. My purpose for the breaking of this norm is to try and help strangers put a smile on their face even if it is only for thirty seconds.

I am familiar to saying hello to strangers because I work as a host at a restaurant. I wanted to take a step further with the basics I do and give compliments after saying hello. I did not want to conduct this exercise at work so I performed it around my neighborhood. I went for a walk and I was ready to let go of my ego. I had to prepare myself for being ignored or being rejected. Then, I saw my first stranger walking with her dog coming towards me. I walked right up to her and said, “Hi, I love your hair,” and just walked away. As I was walking away, I heard, “thank you!” It was a very genuine thank you and not like a formal one where she did not really care about it.  I saw another stranger coming towards me and she looked as if she was around my age. I noticed she had in headphones, but I decided to say hi anyways. She wouldn’t be able to hear me but I could use body language and gestures for her to see me. I waved hello to her and gave her a smile and she looked very confused. She didn’t know how to react so she just ignored me and went on with her life. I got my first rejection from a stranger, which stung a little bit. I then realized why people did not say hi to strangers. Part of it is because they are strangers, but the main reason is the fear of rejection. No one wants to feel rejected when they tried so hard to put themselves out there and to let themselves feel vulnerable. I knew that I had to keep going on to try and make others feel better and myself. I kept on walking until I saw a man walking my way. I took a deep breath and walked right up to him. I said, “ Hi, hope you are having a great day and you are very handsome.” Before I could walk away, he said, “ Wow thank you so much. That just brightened up my day. You are a beautiful person,” and then walked away. That man was the reason for the whole exercise. I helped him put a smile on his face and in return he put a smile on my face.