Workplace etiquette: say hi in the morning

© Crushlabs

You know what’s annoying? Coming into work in the morning and having everyone treat you as if it was but a mere gust of wind which entered the room. You know what’s also annoying? Arriving at work the earliest and not receiving any “hello’s” or “good mornings” from your incoming colleagues.

Before you shout “maybe no one likes you”, I should say that I have seen this happen to other people as well. Perhaps you’ll follow that up with “maybe no one likes them either”. In which case I’d say that HR needs to resign asap, since they hired a group of people that can’t stand each other.

To a lot of people saying “hi” doesn’t seem like a necessity. In fact, I thought I was the only one, until someone left anonymous feedback stating it’s ridiculous how only a few greet others in the hallways. This is also true: it IS ridiculous.

When considering not greeting people, keep in mind you still have to work with them. You are less likely to piss off your colleagues by saying good morning (unless their entire family just got offed and they notified the entire department of this the day before) than you are to give them some sense of feeling like an actual breathing, living human being.

If they’re in your office you definitely need to say good morning. Perhaps you don’t because they have headphones on? Still go for it, you never know what volume those things are on. If they are still in a bad mood afterwards, you’re not to blame for that. People are sensitive, especially in the morning.

But what about people you meet in the hallways and don’t work with directly? Again: there’s no harm in saying hello. I’ve had days where I was happy someone I had never worked with directly said good morning while I was walking from my office to the meeting room. There’s few things more awkward than waiting for your coffee cup to fill up while you’re surrounded by people who don’t acknowledge your existence.

You’ll spend a lot of time with your co-workers, whether you want to or not. If you’re a devout job hopper, you still want to make sure people appreciate you while you’re around. So (wo)man up, ignore your bad mood for a few seconds, and just say “good morning” out loud.