On seeing someone you know, do you say Hello?

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Hi

On seeing someone outside - in a street, in town etc. Do you say hello?

If so, is it before or after they say Hello to you?

If they didn't say Hello would you walk past?

If you don't, why not? How do you feel?

Do you feel a need to greet people to avoid them being offended?

It depends on how much I like them, and whether they have just greeted me.

I used to try to greet all the people I knew believing that it would be a good way to have/keep a good relationship with them. But now I realize most people are not worth it. So although it's rather uncomfortable to say nothing when I see someone I know, I just ignore them. Of course it doesn't apply to all of them. There are some that are worth greeting because they are good people. So I guess you can just be selective and greet only those that you know are good people. I don't see any point in trying to pretend to like not-nice people and give them an insincere smile and greeting.

I try to continue heeding mom's advice to avoid and not talk to strangers. If someone says "hello" to me they usually get a nod or a little wave that hopefully says, "I'm acknowledging your greeting, but at the same time I don't want to talk to you or I don't have time to talk to you".

There's a lot of grifters where I live, so when any stranger tries to engage me, I take it for granted he/she wants something from me. Sometimes I'll actually respond to someone's "hello" with, "try someone else" or "I don't have any cash".
I feel compelled to play tough rather than nice regarding strangers.

But I'm not heartless though. I do help out homeless people a little if I get the right vibe that they're not just looking for a sucker to score off of.

And in the case of someone really actually trying to be friendly, if I don't know them, I usually have no idea what they are talking about most of the time or why they chose me to unload on.

Overall I'm just plain aloof. It's the way of autism.

I do not say hi to those I know -- the "hi" part has already been established, so why say "hi" repeatedly? Also -- I try to be nice. Not mean. Hi doesn't really seem like much, especially if you have something important to say right away, OK? : ))

It of course depends on how well I know the person, but for the most part I don't speak. The reason is because although I'm very good at remembering faces and names, I never think they're going to remember me -- a lot of times they don't. I've been in situations where that has happened -- I've said hello and the person didn't have a clue who I was -- and it's painfully embarrassing, and a bit hurtful that I didn't make a good enough impression to be remembered. So if I happen to see someone I know casually, most of the time I'll just look away. If that person sees me later and asks me why I didn't speak, I can just say I didn't see them. If they don't mention it, I figure they either didn't see me or just didn't give enough of a $#!+ to speak.

If they say it first.
I've never been a social initiator.

I don't really like saying hello to people in general so I don't do it often. Not sure why.

I generally say howdy whether i know them or not. In many cases, I don't know whether or not I do know them.

I used to stay silent, but these days I smile and say hi if they make eye contact with me. I think it stops them thinking you're rude or aloof.

Usually avoid, even people I know well, just find it all too awkward.

Shopping is the worst for me, I no longer use local shops in case I bump into someone I know and have to say hello to them, I use shops near my work now as I am pretty much guaranteed to not see anyone I know.

There has been more than 1 occasion in local supermarkets where I have put my basket down on the floor and just walked out as I felt trapped that I was going to end up in a situation where I had to talk to someone, even people I knew well!.

If I see someone in the street then I wait for them to instigate it then they would usually just get a nod and an 'alright' as I walk on by with my head down pretending I busily had somewhere to be

I sometimes say hello if they initiate it, sometimes I don't, but I do like to. I never say hello first unless it's someone I'm really familiar with.

I just remembered something else. Once you get into greeting terms with someone, then there might eventually be an occasion where you'll have to have a conversation with them. It might lead to a very uncomfortable situation where you don't know what to say and the other person start thinking that you are weird. After such a situation the other person might start feeling uncomfortable around you. That would leave both of you to feel awkward to even greet each other when you walk past each other. It has happened to me many times with many people. So it's best not to even get into greeting terms. Once you are in, you are trapped and have no escape. Unless you are good at having small talk etc, you had better avoid greeting people.

Depends a lot on their body language. If they avoid eye contact it's often a sign they don't want to greet.

One of my biggest social problems is knows what and who I'm 'allowed' to acknowledge. In conversation people say insignificant things but I can remember them, and I never mention it because I don't want to come off as creepy (even though they told me at some point). Same goes for people, I don't know how well I have to know someone to say hi. For example my ex GF's best friend would say hi to me in the halls and even did it a few times after we broke up, now nothing. Do I say hi because I know her or ignore (like I always do) because we aren't that close? What about people I have a class with but aren't friends.

As for responding it depends on density. In an unpopulated area I usually give a nod an sometimes a verbal responce. In a crowded place by the time I register what happened its too late to respond.

If I'm able to, I might give a slight nod, kind of like how Japanese greet. Speaking is hard enough without having to initiate.