You silly ass, dirty Indian... I said hello.

Well, for me, I usually just try and mind my own business. If someone I don't know says "hi" out of nowhere to me, then I may say it back, or smile (unless they caught me at a bad time and I'm not in a good mood at the time). But yes, I too would find it kind of awkward.

It probably stems from people being suspicious of anyone who seems too overly friendly, suspecting that they probably have something else in mind (like the intention to rob you). Most people are used to the idea of not making much eye contact with strangers, and bypassing anyone you don't know unless you have to talk to someone for a reason (like if you get lost, and ask for directions, usually people won't mind, unless they don't know, or are in a hurry. But some will just straight up be jerks, so you'll just have to accept that).

When I'm at work however, my attitude completely changes. I say hi to customers I see, and if they're in my area looking around, I ask them if they need any help, or are looking for a particular item (some say they're just browsing, but usually people will say "yeah, I need "x" item, do you have that?"). I also go into "cheery happy mode" as well, smiling like mad at customers, and striking up some casual conversation while ringing up their contract (I rent out tools at Home Depot), usually about their project, or something at my expense.

For example, sometimes I mess up their name (to make sure I have the right name on file when they give me their phone number), and then joke and tell them that my name gets butchered all the time as well, and I hope I didn't mess their name up too badly. People usually laugh. Other times I find that something was screwed up, so I tell the customer that the associate responsible for the screwup will receive 10 lashes as punishment (even if it's my fault). Again, that usually gets laughter out of them. And since I'm still relatively new there, sometimes I may screw up on something, then jokingly beg them to let the slip-up slide by, which usually works, unless they're pissed off or something (although I probably won't joke around if they look/sound mad). In those cases, I just try to be professional about the situation.

So, to sum up, when I'm going out and what not, I usually try to just mind my own business, unless something happens where talking to complete strangers would be okay (such as if an accident occurred nearby), and I'd find people greeting me to be a little weird.

But at work, I reverse this process and try to help out as best as I can, and try to make the customer's time with me a little more relaxing (blaming the computer is always a good one, cause it's slow sometimes lol).

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