Awkwardness of saying 'hi' and other things

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Does anybody else find it very unusual to say hi? It simply doesn't feel natural, and when I think to myself that I should say it, it usually feels very awkward to say it to people, even if I had met them before. I also never talk to people myself unless I need some information (usually about the schedule). I only talk to people when they approach me.

I also noticed that people seem to be nice, friendly and accepting whenever they 'notice me'. But most of the time, even though some people (rather a group of people) keep approaching me, I'm largely lost in-between the actively socializing groups.

I'm usually OK with not having any friends, but sometimes I get very lonely when I have nothing to do. So, how could I make friends, based on the information I've given? And why do I have no friends?

I find it incredibly unnatural to say hi. My therapist/counselor (she varies which she goes by most weeks), is trying to train me into greeting and saying goodbye to people.

I am uncomfortable saying hi and generally don't do it. I have started saying bye though.

Like most social stuff I do it in character. Everything is easier that way.

Yeah, I don't seem to have a natural instinct for it at all.

While I'm not generally a fan of the "lack of Theory of Mind" theory, it does make me wonder if it's another aspect of sort of forgetting that other people don't have access to my POV the way that I do -- that they are experiencing reality from a different POV where a greeting would make more sense.

If it's just specifically "Hi", why not try something like "Hey" or "What's up?" They seem a bit more lazy and laid back, in a way, to me at least. Either that or just joke about something you're both familiar with. Doesn't need to be the same every time.

I have trained myself to say "Hi" to either of my immediate neighbours if they are in their gardens if I go out into mine to hang out some washing for instance.

However, if they are with someone else I find it difficult to decide when is the right time to communicate or if I should leave them alone.

To me it's just tedious to say hello and bye, especially if it's someone I know I'm going to see again the same day, or probably the following day. I don't really see the point of it. But, I work in sales so I have to do it. Hello, how are you, the whole bit. It's annoying. I would rather just get to the point of the conversation.

Where I live, people are very friendly and some will get really offended if you don't greet them. Not just people you know, but people you have never seen before in your life expect to be greeted like they are your best friend. One day I was walking out of a store, and a man was walking up to the door at the same time and he greeted me. I gave him a nod but I had something on my mind at the moment and I couldn't get any words out. Before I quite made it to my car, I heard the guy say in this nasty way, "well hello to you too!" and I looked over my shoulder and he was just standing there on the sidewalk glaring at me. Good grief, I am not obligated to speak to everyone I meet. I was glad I hadn't said anything to him after all, if he was going to act that way about it. You just can't tell what people like that will do.

I always try and remember to say, "Hello," but its like I don't say it right. Like I'm putting a ton of emphasis on it but without wanting to.

I have to remind myself to greet people, but it doesn't bother me so much as it used to.

I had a bit of an altercation with my ex (I was 21 or 22 at the time) because I didn't really do social pleasantries and saw no reason for it, and she insisted they were necessary to show that I cared.

I think I picked up some due to scripts while running a fast food register. You have a set of things you're supposed to say to the customers - greet them, thank them, repeat their orders back, etc. I also picked up more when I worked telephone support for a cable company. I can still recite that set of scripts although I have little use for them.

I have trouble with saying ''hello''. Well, not all the time. It depends on the environment. Like if I pass somebody I know in the street, I find it more easier and natural to say ''hi'' or ''hello'' or whatever. Also I find it easy when I go to other people's houses to say ''hi''. Actually, usually I say, ''you all right?'' in a cool sort of tone, like I sometimes see other people do. But I find it most hard when people come to my house and I got to say ''hi'' when they enter the room. That's why I usually like to answer the door when we got guests coming, so that I can be the first to be seen and greeted, and get it all over and done with.

Usually when I'm in my room and, say, an uncle comes round and goes into the living-room with my mum to chat, I find it really awkward to come down and peep my head round the door and say hi. It's what everyone expects me to do, but I find it really awkward for some reason. So usually I pretend I didn't know someone was here until they were gone.