this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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That’s literally how it works in many non-American cultures, yes. Seems extremely weird how pushy you’re being about this.
Literally what you’re trying to do, kind of invalidates your entire argument
That’s great, happy for you and them.
How many others have you gotten fired for trying?
Virtually nobody outside of weird ass Krauts and Nordics act like this. If anything, your average person is far chattier to strangers than your average Burgerlander. In most countries, you can get away discussing (and arguing) politics with random strangers while you can't even discuss politics with acquaintances in the US. Taxi uncs are a thing throughout the world. They're anything but quiet.
But then again, that's the price Western European societies and their settler-colonial spawns pay for being the geographical origin of capitalism. It turns their society into a crowd of completely atomized individuals that can't even communicate with each other who start malding whether someone gives them a simple greeting, a social custom that has existed in every single human society throughout history and honestly even in every single nonhuman society.
I may not be a world-weary traveler, but I have spent time in different cultures and they have been more cordial and more interactive with each other across the store counter than the "serve me now robot" mentality of USians. The only times I have seen the "don't exchange greetings" mindset in other cultures are when it's explicitly across the class divide, where the bourgsies wouldn't deign to speak with the lowly proles serving them.
No, it's literally what Le_Wokisme and apparently you are trying to do. The default social behavior is to recognize that the person serving you is human and the common way to do that is to greet them in some way, usually by asking them about the state of their being (which is by the way common across many non-western non-global north cultures). There is room for behaving differently depending on particular circumstances. If someone behind the counter is clearly having a bad day and their body language is clear they don't want to talk, then maybe an understanding sad-smile and a nod will suffice. But insisting that we're better off or that it's more respectful to not to say anything in recognition of the human interaction you're having is absurd. I say this as an introvert with social phobias who had/has to work retail and service. It's still a thousand times more degrading to be treated as if I were a vending machine or as if I'm not even there than it is to be greeted in passing even when I don't feel like making small talk.
Amazing what kind of positive things can come out of basic human social interactions.
Am I actually reading this on hexbear? Someone is making the argument that it's wrong to attempt to let people know what their options are for unionizing because of the potential their bosses might find out and retaliate? I guess that's it, we better throw in the towel, any attempt at unionizing is a wash, now that the capitalist class might do some shit to punish it. ~~Also, @GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net made it clear they were talking about being on the service employee side of the counter - they are talking about telling their customers about their union organizers and being successful,~~ not handing out strike fliers to a worker while they're working ffs.
My advice to anyone still reading this thread is to do what you think is right for that particular circumstance with that particular service person. Obviously I can't speak for all neurodivergent people who work retail because at least one in this thread doesn't want to be greeted. But speaking for myself and the coworkers and friends I've known who have expressed their sentiments with me, many if not most of us appreciate being greeted and asked how we're doing, not ignored.
If i made that clear I was bad at writing, I feel you represented my case well but I was totally the customer. I didnt talk radical shit while they were behind the counter or anything. Just after years of friendly chit chat while getting groceries or whatever, I would get to know people and then I'd often catch them on breaks, usually the people I got along with were also work friends amongst themselves, so we could talk more freely in those times. After that I just give em email addresses for my friends on the labor board and for the local IWW chapter to use as resources with issues at work. After a bit of that, it handles itself. This is a process that takes years. It wasn't like, a plan or anything, I just have the mindset that I should be friends with the workers in places I shop all the time.
In what universe is conceding the class war ever going to help us? The bourgeois might fight back so we shouldn't do anything?
Thomas Sankara:
For the record I havent gotten anyone fired cause this wasnt a strategy to spread radical theory and unionize places i dont work. I just figure if im going to see the same people at the stores I go to often then it makes sense to be friends on at least a casual basis.
Anywhere I go frequently im on first name basis with most of the staff. After a year or so of casual chit chat with people, a lot of the ones who like I vibe with most were also friends with each other and id run into them on their smoke breaks where we could be more open. All I did was hook em up with the emails of my friends on the labor board and my friends in the IWW. This wasn't some mission, I was more pointing out that having a rapport with the person behind the counter is praxis, but you should do it anyway. Adjust for frequency of visits and how busy they are, dont hold up the line or be a bad customer cause you blather at them when they have shit to do. But I care DEEPLY about the conditions of those who provide me with goods and services, and the only way to learn about that in a useful way is to talk to your fellow workers, they are most often found at work.
None, because i'm smart. Only really get into radical stuff when you spot people on break, who i have already established a rapport with by asking about their day and continuing the conversation as we do the checkout thing.
For the rest, other people have already represented my case pretty well and I dont feel like entertaining this any further.