Old-ish man on the route to the Co-op who keeps saying hello

[RogueFemale]

I moved house last week and already have noticed this man. He lives on the short (7m) walking route to the local Co-Op. He's maybe mid 60s, tall, heavy build. He is always standing outside his front door, and he loudly says hello every time I go past. I ignore him.

I'm 60 and am used to being invisible.

So it's not a leering hello. I also thought maybe it was accidental he was standing outside before, or something, and just a cheery 'local' hello.

But I went past twice today (to Co-Op) and he was there both times, hello-ing, and I'm finding it quite weird, that he's always standing outside his front door.

I'm going to be going to the local Co-Op a lot, so what do I do?

AIBU to continue to ignore him and just doggedly go past for years pretending he's not there?

How can you be so rude?

It's a very very quiet street, but I don't feel singled out, I just think it's weird that he is standing in the doorway of his house every time I've gone past in the last week. I only fully noticed it today, on the way to the Co-op and then sure enough he was still standing in the doorway on the way back. What normal person STANDS in their doorway for this long??

I don't know, I'm usually pretty busy getting on with my own life. Can you see his house from your window.

Do an online shop.

No, it's nowhere close

Someone who is lonely.

I live in London and I can confirm people do say hello - and if someone says hello, the normal response back is….hello

Its the same in the south, always saying morning/afternoon/hello, sometimes even snippets of conversations to people i see regularly for example there is this elderly man who walks his dog and i see him every morning on the way back from school run and we both smile and say good morning and he will make comments like “oh on the bikes again today” or “ah not got the baby with you this morning” etc its just generally normal neighbourhood behaviour here 🤷🏻‍♀️ xx

Any other time, OP would have got loads of 'trust your instincts' or 'go with your gut' but no as soon as a few reply weirdly negatively, lots of others follow suit.

@RogueFemale I'm with you. It's certainly odd that he's there all the time. I would avoid eye contact and not respond at all.

Christ alive.

Where I grew up, if you didn't say hello back, you'd be the one people thought was mentally unwell.

Yep! Our next door but one, just turned 100 and he props himself up on his front wall and watches the world go by. Says hello to anyone who goes past, a bit of general chit chat, and then when he's tired he goes back in again. It's about as far as he can walk on his own now, he gets some fresh air, he gets to speak to people... He's a lovely man.

@fivefoottwowitheyesofblue THANK YOU!

The school I went to had an old man living opposite who’d stand waving and saying hello as we all started and left school. We called him Mr Wavealot. Didnt know his actual name

Do that nod and smile recognition with a wave as you walk past

RogueFemale, I’m sorry to see you getting so many hostile unhelpful replies. Wear ear buds is what I would do. Or just take a longer route to get your shopping.
Hope someone comes up with a better idea than me, it would make me very uncomfortable, good luck.

Surely to God you’re not walking past his house all day, every day, op?
How could you possibly know what some random person does with their day?

So absolutely nothing like the man in the OP then

He is standing in his own doorway. He is no following OP anywhere

My late father in law liked to sit in his front garden and watch the world go by.
It was that or watch war movies on the telly as he couldn't get around much.
My late dad used to stand staring out the window. He liked to keep an eye on traffic so he'd have something to moan about.
My mums female neighbour often sits on a bench out the front of her house because that's where she gets the sun.
The house two doors down from her has a dog watching out the window all day because he's a dog and a bit dim (apparently). He woofs every so often.

Then you're bothering others who don't want it and need to get your own friends

Happy people?

He might be wondering why you are ALWAYS walking past his house.......

This is one of the meanest threads by an OP I have read on here for a long while.

Would it hurt you at all @RogueFemale just to say hello to the man? It’s not an obligation or a duty. It’s just nice and doesn’t cost anything. Maybe even comment on the weather now and then.

Or find a different route. I think it is unkind to deliberately ignore him.