To say hello to colleagues in the morning

[Stickystitch]

If you work in an office, do you greet your colleagues who are sitting at the same desk area as you, and do they say hello to you when you arrive in the morning?

I've been in my job nearly a year. It's hybrid, most people do 1-2 days a week in the office and the vibe is very low energy. Recently I've stopped trying to say hi to people and now just ignore people in the kitchen - some days I can come in, sit down, and genuinely not speak a word to anyone all day. Aibu to think that's odd? I'm not looking to make BFFs at work at all, or hang out chatting all day. Like everyone else, I just want to get in, get my work done and leave. But I don't think it's unreasonable to think it would be nicer, and less awkward, for colleagues to acknowledge your existence? It's kind of soul sucking!

Also it's not personal. There's only one little office clique who really talk to each other, and they're not very friendly to outsiders.

Before I started WFH yes always said good morning and offered to make everyone a tea/coffee.

I have worked in bigger offices before and I didn't offer to make everyone tea but I always smiled and said good morning to those in my station.

Very strange if you ask me! Do they talk to each other?

I think I'd struggle to work in that kind of environment. What job is it op?

I used to have a manager who never acknowledged me when I said good morning, but I kept on as I was brought up to be polite. It is also acknowledging there are other people in the office, it doesn’t cost anything to be nice.

We do. We have my teams and one other team in our section. We all say morning as we come in.

We even do teas in rounds. Though everyone make their own in the morning as the arrive.

I would rather work permanently from home than be sat around people but not talking to them all day.

I would continue to say good morning to them - if only to be irritating. Seriously, think that it's important to keep your own standards and saying good morning to your colleagues is important. The fact that they don't see it as important is their loss.
And Good Morning to you

This seconded

I always say hello to everyone. I’m the head of the dept now but even before then I used to say hello to everyone. Just a good morning as I walk past, a chat in the kitchen with whoever is there and often people come over to my desk to say good morning etc. Most people are friendly enough to say good morning

That is odd. I work for a large organisation and there are hundreds of people that I don't know. We also do hybrid working so there are generally a handful of people in most days. Regardless, almost anyone who walks through the office in the morning says a general Hi/Good morning and whoever is there responds. We also tend to pass the time of day if we happen to be in the kitchen at the same time.

Are these people you know/work closely with? If so that is even more odd.

Absolutely. Don’t sink to other peoples standards in life.

It's v. odd.

It's a civil service department. Pretty low morale to be honest so don't blame some of them, but still.

@Herbie0987 I think managers ignoring you is the worst. My current line manager is usually on the bank of desks opposite where I sit and never says a word to me. He talks to me for 30 mins a month at our 1 to 1. It's all so weird.

Recently I've stopped trying to say hi to people and now just ignore people in the kitchen - some days I can come in, sit down, and genuinely not speak a word to anyone all day

My reading comprehension seems off this morning - why have you stopped saying hello to people? Personally, I'd just go back to saying hi to people and having normal small talk in the kitchen. If nothing else it breaks up the day.

I find in my work, because people are hybrid, I still might not know the person in the kitchen (after working here over a year) but I'll say hi and usually from that you can judge if they'll engage.

I feel there is no need to make our worlds smaller and more isolating.

YABU for icing colleagues out
YANBU for expecting people to say hello to each other - it's the right thing to do. You are not strangers in a supermarket - you are at work - working together

Sorry I didn't mean I ignore people - if someone spoke to me I'd never ignore them.

I meant that more recently I've just been going around saying nothing unless someone speaks to me, (which is never).

I have this with my headteacher. I have to walk through the office to sign in. She doesn’t acknowledge that I’m even there. Head down at the computer. So rude and makes me feel so small and insignificant.

Its like this where I work.
50 people in our department, 1600 in the office. You'd walk in in the morning, everyone would just keep looking at their screens so wouldnt acknowledge you - even the people on the desks next to me.
I found it very odd but thats just the way it was so didnt take it to heart.

Now 5 years later I'm more senior and am in first in the morning. I always greet everyone when they come in in the morning. The odd time I'd be very busy and might not notice someone coming in but I do really try to make an effort.

I am also CS - we operate hybrid working . People pretend to uphold our values but cant even look up long enought to say hi in the morning, drives me nuts - whats the point going in the office if its not to communicate with people.

I am just overly friendly in return and chat to everyone, last week we ended up have a really good chat over the desks with a bunch of strangers - gosh its only ten/15 mins out of your day and makes it feel so much friendlier.

I think it's important to say hello. We are a small team in the office - normally about 10 - 15 people max in the office. It's open plan. Yet there are people who just sit there and barely acknowledge anyone in the office. They talk to you when they want / need something but that's it.

We are in the office for a lot of our working week. We are part of a team. I think it's nice to at least say hello to people.

Maybe they're thinking the same!
I'm confused OP. Why not just say "morning" to people when you arrive? How hard can it be?

I always do. I don't chat much, but always say good morning.

I work from home and we all say good morning to each other on Teams!

But why not walk in and say good morning HT, how's it going this morning?
Why does it have to be on her, and not on you to speak?
If you say good morning and she doesn't respond then that's rude imo, but at the moment you are both doing the same thing - not greeting each other.

In my workplace we all greet each other. I used to have trouble saying a clear and friendly "hello X" to people who are completely ignoring me, but since DS started school 3 years ago I have become very talented at it and worn most of them down into greeting me back.

Yeah I’m in a hybrid team, I say hybrid very loosely as most people make an excuse to wfh every day so there’s tumble weed on the office. I’m in a new role where no one does the usual office chat and find it a bit soul destroying and am looking around for another job. Posting a pic on teams once a week is not the same.

Sorry to hear this! I’m a civil servant too and I always say hi to people - but I’m in a chatty team and we book to come in on the same days and probably annoy the quiet people around us.

This sounds symptomatic of bigger problems like your manager not speaking to you outside of your 121s - that’s a bit odd! Can I ask what grade you are?