Do Brits not normally say "hello" and "good bye" when entering / exiting a lift with other people or am I encountering a particularly rude bunch? I am in London on business this week and noone ever seems to do that - it is pretty common in Poland.
Depends whether you accidentally make eye contact with them or not.
Quote from: Tyr on October 12, 2016, 05:17:42 AM
Depends whether you accidentally make eye contact with them or not.
Heaven forbid! :o :weep:
You might nod if you know a particular person or say good morning/evening but it's certainly not expected.
Lift etiquette is not complex. Don't enter until everyone exiting as exited. Don't fart.
Also, if you are in Canary Wharf, all you are thinking about is how you can get out of that awful, soulless place.
And if you do fart make sure it's just before you leave the elevator.
It's pretty common here too to greet people when entering a lift. I have seen in it ignored in office buildings though. Seems being rude is a prerequisite of going corporate.
Why would you speak to people you don't know if you don't have to? :huh:
With strangers? Good Lord, no. I will only exchange pleasantries with people from my company whom I see every day and know by name.
Otherwise you get in, press your floor button, stand as far away from any other individuals as physics will allow and turn silently to face the door until you'r finally released from close proximity to other humans.
Quote from: Brazen on October 12, 2016, 05:45:18 AM
With strangers? Good Lord, no. I will only exchange pleasantries with people from my company whom I see every day and know by name.
Otherwise you get in, press your floor button, stand as far away from any other individuals as physics will allow and turn silently to face the door until you'r finally released from close proximity to other humans.
:lol: Even if I complain about the little things ("how are you" as a form of greeting, destroying their own high-flying economy via brexit etc), I find general/expected British temperament to be very much in line with my own. :cheers:
I don't know. I like people. :sleep:
In Austria it will depend. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I prefer no. I see a lift as a form of transport, and I generally don't say hi to people on the tram, subway, or plane, either.
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:32:03 AM
I don't know. I like people. :sleep:
But that's the great thing here: IF communication is necessary/warranted, everyone is super-kind and usually helpful, too. It's just that you don't climb into other people's personal space and life if you don't have to.
Quote from: Tamas on October 12, 2016, 06:48:22 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:32:03 AM
I don't know. I like people. :sleep:
But that's the great thing here: IF communication is necessary/warranted, everyone is super-kind and usually helpful, too. It's just that you don't climb into other people's personal space and life if you don't have to.
We are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
In the lift of my first home here, we did greet each other with other residents of the building, so it's not like you never ever talk to people.
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Quote from: Syt on October 12, 2016, 07:09:06 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Less people to deal with, hopefully.
Quote from: Syt on October 12, 2016, 07:09:06 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.
Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 07:17:54 AM
Quote from: Syt on October 12, 2016, 07:09:06 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.
Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?
So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?
Ok you Brits are weird. I am as antisocial as they come and hate people who chat you up or anything but I always say "good morning" when I enter a lift in Poland and "good bye" when I leave when there are people there (of course I mean complete strangers). It's just polite. I mean it would be awkward not to acknowledge other people in close quarters like this.
Quote from: Gups on October 12, 2016, 07:21:30 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 07:17:54 AM
Quote from: Syt on October 12, 2016, 07:09:06 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.
Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?
So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?
No but I do that in a train compartment or on a plane.
Quote from: Gups on October 12, 2016, 07:21:30 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 07:17:54 AM
Quote from: Syt on October 12, 2016, 07:09:06 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 06:57:30 AMWe are talking about greeting people you're going to be pretty physically close for a few moments, not asking them for a date.
You are already invading other people's space in a lift (and vice versa). Being friendly is a way to defuse that tension.
How is that different from getting on a crowded bus/tram/subway?
Lifts are a much more intimate space. Being surrounded by 50 people in a train car isn't the same as being surrounded by 2-3 people inside a moving closet.
Wouldn't you greet the people you sit with when getting in somebody's car even if you don't know them?
So do you say hello to someone if you sit next to them on a bus or a train?
As a matter of fact, if they display awareness of my presence (aka not reading/checking their phone), I do. I'm going to be right next to them for a good while, so it seems natural.
Quote from: celedhring on October 12, 2016, 07:24:27 AM
As a matter of fact, if they display awareness of my presence (aka not reading/checking their phone), I do. I'm going to be right next to them for a good while, so it seems natural.
Interesting. If you did that in London (where, TBF, the person sitting next to you might change every few minutes), you would be regarded with bemusement.
My commute is pretty long. I tend to be seated next to the same people for 30 minutes.
Foreigners don't do it, certainly. So I get it might a cultural thing.
I guess it depends on the situation.
In our previous office building there were like 3 floors altogether, with an elevator, so people would spend seconds together in a lift and as I recall nobody bothered to greet and/or say bye, but for example they'd usually keep the door open if they see someone making a rush for it or something, and this would be thanked, obviously.
I dunno. In our office downtown, there are like 30 floors. If I get on at ground floor in the morning along with 10 other people, and I am going to 26, and then 5 more people get on at some point, I am not saying "Goodbye" 14 times or more as I go up, that would just feel weird.
You certainly chat with anyone you know of course.
Quote from: Martinus on October 12, 2016, 07:22:13 AM
Ok you Brits are weird. I am as antisocial as they come and hate people who chat you up or anything but I always say "good morning" when I enter a lift in Poland and "good bye" when I leave when there are people there (of course I mean complete strangers). It's just polite. I mean it would be awkward not to acknowledge other people in close quarters like this.
Lifts suck, I use the stairs.
Your right about the weirdness of Brits, when I'm out and about in the countryside I always say Hi, morning, evening etc to people I encounter, especially if dog walkers so they know I'm not going to run their dog down and/or they'll make an effort to restrain it.
But I can be miles from anywhere and I'll pass a walker, say hi and you'll get an utterly blank look from them if anything, that does seem bizarre, to me it's the human things to acknowledge the presence of other people, especially if your both in some sense travelling.
In Toronto at least, talking to strangers in public spaces (unless functionally necessary) immediately identifies you as a foreigner. :D
Quote from: Berkut on October 12, 2016, 08:24:03 AM
I dunno. In our office downtown, there are like 30 floors. If I get on at ground floor in the morning along with 10 other people, and I am going to 26, and then 5 more people get on at some point, I am not saying "Goodbye" 14 times or more as I go up, that would just feel weird.
You certainly chat with anyone you know of course.
No, I meant saying that when I leave, not every time someone leaves.
Quote from: Malthus on October 12, 2016, 08:37:09 AM
In Toronto at least, talking to strangers in public spaces (unless functionally necessary) immediately identifies you as a foreigner. :D
Or missionaries of some sort. Though I don't see as many Mormons as I used to
Americans might be know for being friendlier/more outgoing than Euros, but I pretty much never, ever see strangers in an elevator pass on polite greetings.
Quote from: HVC on October 12, 2016, 08:48:20 AM
Quote from: Malthus on October 12, 2016, 08:37:09 AM
In Toronto at least, talking to strangers in public spaces (unless functionally necessary) immediately identifies you as a foreigner. :D
Or missionaries of some sort. Though I don't see as many Mormons as I used to
I once got Mormon missionaries appearing at an archaeological dig site I was working on out in the country. That was surreal. It was nearly 30 years ago, though. :D
The Hare Krishna appear to have entirely disappeared.
The place I work now is no longer in the corporate headquarter, but much more down-to-earth with engineers and mechanics etc. You even greet random unknown people you meet in the hallways or so here, especially early in the morning, not so much later in the day.
Don't go to NYC, Marti. You'll likely get a 'fuck you too' in response. ;)
Quote from: Martinus on October 12, 2016, 07:22:13 AM
Ok you Brits are weird. I am as antisocial as they come and hate people who chat you up or anything but I always say "good morning" when I enter a lift in Poland and "good bye" when I leave when there are people there (of course I mean complete strangers). It's just polite. I mean it would be awkward not to acknowledge other people in close quarters like this.
You hit on everything with a penis. Of course your behavior is different from normal people.
One odd thing about corporate etiquette I've noticed is if you see someone you know at their normal work desk you may ignore them.
If you pass them in the corridor even outside their office though then you must say hello.
See them in public (again, even if just outside the office building ) and they're your best friend who you haven't seen for years.
I'll be very surprised if a random stranger says anything to me in a lift. I don't know about Brits, but Canadians tend to do that, and it freaked me out every time.
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2016, 03:22:24 AM
One odd thing about corporate etiquette I've noticed is if you see someone you know at their normal work desk you may ignore them.
But, of course. They could be working. ;)
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2016, 03:22:24 AMIf you pass them in the corridor even outside their office though then you must say hello.
Yes, because you are close and you do know them.
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2016, 03:22:24 AM
See them in public (again, even if just outside the office building ) and they're your best friend who you haven't seen for years.
Nah. I mean maybe if you can't but help run into one another but generally you should avoid having such interactions occur outside of work hours. :P
And I've never expected anyone to say anything to me just outside the office or in the vicinity when say during a lunch break. Well my employees maybe. :D
Quote from: mongers on October 12, 2016, 08:30:48 AM
Your right about the weirdness of Brits, when I'm out and about in the countryside I always say Hi, morning, evening etc to people I encounter, especially if dog walkers so they know I'm not going to run their dog down and/or they'll make an effort to restrain it.
But I can be miles from anywhere and I'll pass a walker, say hi and you'll get an utterly blank look from them if anything, that does seem bizarre, to me it's the human things to acknowledge the presence of other people, especially if your both in some sense travelling.
I think the rule is you greet anyone who is outdoors with a purpose. When running, I greet other runners and dog walkers. Normal pedestrians are just doing the inconvenient bit to get where they're going. Unless they're old people, but it's touch and go whether to say hello as they'll invariable want to chat.
I also get stopped for directions far more when I'm running than walking. :hmm:
Quote from: Tonitrus on October 12, 2016, 11:30:08 AM
Americans might be know for being friendlier/more outgoing than Euros, but I pretty much never, ever see strangers in an elevator pass on polite greetings.
Agree, and if someone did so when I got onto an elevator, it would almost be creepy.
I fart in elevators.