No Greetings Exercise Analysis

For my first breaching assignment I decided to do the “no greetings” exercise. I executed this exercise a total of four times with four different people. The first was an in-person encounter with a male stranger, the second and third were two separate phone calls with my mother and father, and the last was an in-person encounter with the person I am dating. Through the experiment I realized the impact, or lack there of, a greeting has and how expected the behavior has become. I was able to draw some distinctions amongst the reactions. Firstly, I realized that women tended to have a more emotional response to the exercise; however, it appeared that the men in the experiment seemed to linger on the encounter longer. I was able to come to the conclusion that the more personal or intimate the relationship with the …show more content…
It was around lunch time and the social setting was quite busy. I approached the male stranger and was able to engage him in conversation easily without the use of a greeting. I was able to reference and comment on something in proximity to engage. The conversation continued for the duration of the wait; however, I felt a bit uncomfortable toward the end because I knew in my mind that I would need to leave somewhat abruptly. I was able to grab my food and make my way to the cash register. The awkward part came when the stranger stuck his hand out and said nice to meet you, rejecting it was harder than I had expected. I turned and walked away, and felt rude. I have it 30 seconds then turned around and saw him still looking at my direction and then breaking eye contact when he noticed me looking back. It appears that the lack of a goodbye was unconventional but he did not seem too bothered by the exchange and was able to move about his day without another word to me. I believe the lack of a close relationship with the stranger and the social setting allowed for the exercise to go