I smile at people and specifically try to watch their reaction. If they see me they almost universally smile back. If they see me I frequently say hello and I generally get acknowledged even if they don’t reciprocate with the word hello.

What is sad is the number of people that do not make any eye contact. Sometimes they are reading their phone but sometimes they just don’t seem to want to look at strangers.

I work at a medical school and the students follow the same pattern as I find in general even when I am in the hallway. Many medical students simply don’t make eye contact for people they don’t know even in what should be a safe environment.

I guess potential doctors are just like the rest of us … just regular people that are absorbed by life as they walk about their day.

The other bit of interesting information is the gender bias of those that do greet me. If somebody is enthusiastic about a reply it is much more often a woman. Men are rarely what I would call enthusiastic … but just business like.