I studied Communications in college. One of the things I love about being a Communication student is observing people and watching how they react to others.
Don’t let her fool you, most of the time her communicating is done at the top of her lungs.
My professor shared a story about getting on an elevator that had only one other person on it, and then taking a position right next to the existing passenger and observing how that person reacted. Most people will move away if given the chance.
From time to time I conduct my own experiments.
One of my older experiments involved a man who stood at my street corner every morning waiting for the bus.
Initially I began my experiment with driving past him each morning and attempting to making eye contact. Once he began making eye contact with me, I gave him a little head nod of acknowledgement. When he began bobbing back, I upped my game to smiling and waving at him.
All told it took about 2 weeks, but by the end of those two weeks, he was eagerly awaiting my approach, in fact you could tell by his body language how much he was anticipating the friendly morning wave.
I also make many observations. Some may call them assumptions, but you know what they say about assumptions. In this particular instance I am referring to them as observations.
As I patrol peruse walk the neighborhood with Sampson and Delilah each morning, we usually encounter a number of neighbors as they depart on their way to start their day.
I have to go on record as saying this is one of the un-friendliest neighborhoods I’ve ever lived in. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need a neighbor crawling up my ass, but it would be nice to introduce yourself when someone moves in across the street from you. I do know my neighbors on either side of me, well enough to stop for a quick chat when I catch them in the yard, and another older neighbor (across and up the street) with MS who absolutely adores my dogs.
Anywhoo, as stated in the first sentence, I’m a Communication’s Major and that means that I…well…I like to communicate. I’m a social and friendly sort of gal so as we travel the neighborhood and pass people going about their business, I usually wave. It’s not a crazy wave, I refer to it as the Flipper, no not because I’m using a certain finger, it’s because I just sort of flip my hand up as I pass by. Sort of like a dolphin coming up out of water.
I get a variety of waves in return.
- The Gomer Pyle – This one comes from the newest member of the neighborhood. Her hand waves frantically back and forth, I’m guessing she’s just so damn happy someone in the neighborhood actually waves to her.
- The Jeep Wave – If you’ve ever owned a Jeep, you’ll know this wave. It’s a casual kind of wave where the hand remains on the wheel and the fingers just lift off ever so slightly. (My husband says it’s like belonging to a club or something.)
- The Schultz – I see nothing, I know nothing. This person pretends they don’t see you and as such, they do not have to acknowledge you.
- The Mr. Rogers – Typically this wave comes from the older generation. These are the peeps who raise their arm up so their hand is at about head level, the hand may or may not wave back and forth.
- The Drill Sergeant – This isn’t actually a wave at all. It comes from the woman in this house.
The minute a foot touches the lawn in front of this fence, she opens her door and stands their arms crossed.
I swear she has motion activated cameras somewhere, because as soon as the dogs approach the house, she opens her door and stands in the doorway with her arms crossed. If you wave at her…she ignores you.
- The Heil Hitler – This person’s hand comes up almost like you were asking someone to stop, their eyes remain on the road, almost as if it was a requirement.
What kinds of waves do you observe in your neighborhoods? Did you recognize any of mine?
I don’t live in a neighborhood; I live on a busy road that connects one end of our little town with another. BUT our new neighbors on the one side are very nice. You know about the Schultz on the other side; but that would be insulting “Schultzie” (who I thought was really a lovable guy as far as WWII German army sergeants go).
lol those were awesome! I didn’t know about the jeep wave until I rode with my friend in her new jeep in Feb and she waved to another jeep owner and said that is what you do.
LOL! The Gomer Pyle! So funny! We love making observations as we cruise the neighborhood. It is pretty friendly around here, so lots of different waves going on.
Well, we don’t live in a neighborhood anymore, but I do recognize some of your waves. When we had our Harleys we always got, and gave the Harley wave. Similar to the jeep wave.
Since WE have Jessie Jeep… we guess we gotta tell mom about that special Jeep Wave… She just COUNTS them as they go by… the last outting we were on… she counted 117 of them…
You are very observant! We know all of our immediate neighbors and do stop and chat once in a while if I’m walking….they are all pretty friendly. I wave at everyone…I’d say the Flipper is the wave I use and the one I see the most in return.
She’s baaaaccckkk! Pawsome post with remarkable observations. Well done, Jodi! 🙂 As I get older I notice younger people have the social skills of trolls. I continue to wonder what makes these abysmal cretins tick (wait…maybe they don’t and that’s the problem). Anyway, if I’m not feeling too bitchy, I make it my mission to get them to acknowledge me. It may just be eye contact but I want something otherwise I make a snarky comment, like “oh doing fine, thanks for asking.” It probably goes over their pointy heads, but it makes me feel better. 🙂
P.S. Try waving to the drill sergeant after coming to a full on “ATTEN-TION!” and if that doesn’t work, play taps on a trumpet and salute. She’s gotta acknowledge that!
I have never thought before about the classification of my wave, but it is closest to the jeep wave. I do always smile though. Doesn’t a smile make them all friendlier? (except for the schultz)
I like to wave with one of B’s full poop bags. Defecation salutation. It serves two purposes – 1) I clean up after my dog and 2) I am friendly. Pow.
There’s the motorcycle wave – similar to Jeep’s except the waver’s hand hangs down palm forward, almost as if ready to clap a low “give me 5” with another rider.
I once had a neighbor with a telephone pole at the edge of her corner lot. One snowy winter she yelled at me for letting my dog “yellow” her snow (he had peed against the pole). Poor Dear.
LOL. We have a super unfriendly neighborhood too. (Actually both our ‘hoods here in SD have been unfriendly. At both places, when we moved in, no one came to welcome us to the ‘hood. So when we got new neighbors I made a point of going over to welcome them!) So… given that you might guess that we get a lot of “The Shultz”!
There are a couple of people that I smile at and get a smile/head bob back – but the only guy that actually waves is the realtor down the street who sold us our house. (And he’s just probably being nice so we’ll use him if/when we sell!) 🙂
LOL I avoid most of my neighbors except for a few. If we are out walking and we see them, we wave and like you we chat with our immediate neighbors if we catch them out.
We live in the country so lots of people say hello, but most of them know my name but not my bipeds’ names! There’s one very special neighbour who, instead of waving, puts her hand into her treat pocket when she sees me (she has my bipeds’ permission) – that’s the very best type of greeting!
My signature wave is the Girl Scout’s Honor. I usually have a few treats in my right hand and Barley’s leash in the left, so I can only manage to get a few fingers up in a wave while still keeping the treats secured in my palm.