Hello?

I am not intentionally a dick. You are probably wondering what I could be talking about. For some odd reason I have a problem with saying hello and goodbye, I would say more so on goodbye than hello. I am a polite person otherwise; I say please and thank you. I am a gentleman. I hold the door open for people. I respect my elders. I write thank you cards. I comment on bloggers that comment on my blog. But for some reason one of my biggest flaws is being rude by not saying hi.

I might have to rephrase that. I do say hi but only if the other person initiates it first, I rarely am the person that says hi first. I also hate the cliche question of "how are you?" Who really tells the truth when asked this question? The norm response is: good, how are you? I know a lot of people like to use "how are you?" to replace hello and I find that a little annoying because I know that a lot of people that ask this question really don't care how I am doing, they are just being polite. I would rather them stick to hello unless they are really interested in my life or well being such as my grandma, I know she actually cares.

I would say that one of the few times I initiate the hello is at family gatherings such as holidays. If I go to my Aunt's for Easter lets say, I will kiss the women in the family on the cheek and say hi. The guys get a handshake. But on the flip side I feel sort of awkward saying goodbye. I try to do a group goodbye so I don't have to 'do the 'rounds' so-to-speak. I will just say goodbye real loud and do one big wave, it works for me.

Recently someone told me that I was being disrespectful by not saying hi when entering their home. I know I was kind of already being disrespectful but it became more real when somebody actually said it to me. Well, my sister and mother have told me about my 'hi' problem before but when somebody outside of your family tells you the same info, it hits you harder.

So now I am trying to change my ways. Over the past few days I have been initiating the hellos and goodbyes. I have always struggled with this and it's going to take time before it just comes natural to me but I know I can change. There will be a new and improved Powdered Toast Man for the future.