Main Street Magazine Spring '23

girl hi, or gir
waving
culture
80
I remember this one night; it was so college. A party at the Cottages was dying down, and at this
point it was routine to chill in the hot tub. During that time, while under certain influences, I had
a drawn-out conversation with this guy. From my perspective, the conversation went well, so we
exchanged contact with the theoretical idea that a new friendship was in the works. A few days
later, I see him in Holloway Commons and we’re both like, “Oh hey!” But then a dark turn was taken.
The next time I see him, I’m pondering, calculating my thoughts, “Should I wave to him? If I make
eye contact with him, he’ll see me and wave, right?” WRONG. No eye contact, no wave, no hello. I
was deeply hurt and in full belief we were above that level. “Why didn’t he wave at me?” I wondered.
But, as I dug deeper into my thoughts, I realized I sometimes exude similar behavior to others as
he did to me. I then came to the conclusion that there are numerous factors to consider whether or
not you should wave to someone, “Waving Culture” to paraphrase.
why do we wave?
Typically, we wave at someone that we know. How do we meet people at college? Well, there are
so many ways, whether it’s from a party, a class, a club, a Tinder date — the list goes on. But with
all the people that you meet, you’re obviously going to have varying experiences that will influence
your desire to wave to someone. However, if you’re a big people pleaser, or lack in the social anxiety
category, then you might just wave to every person you know even if it was a brief interaction. You’re
so brave for that.
when to wave at someone,
what do you have on them?
Picture this, you’re walking along the
sidewalk on Main Street and you see a
familiar face, uh oh…girl, BE CALM.
There are some common sense
considerations to determine your
decision to wave at that person.
If you’ve had at least one or two
lengthy conversations, the back
and forth was enjoyable, and/
or you’ve been seeing this
person often lately, say hi!
Now, if it’s been a while
since you’ve seen that
person and your last
interaction with them
was subpar, I would
probably keep
my hands in my
pockets and just
say “hey”. If you
ignore them, I
don’t think it
would be that
big of a deal if
you don’t think
you’ll see them
too often, or if
anything, ever
again, but I can
get to that part
soon.
Digging a
bit deeper, if
you’ve had a
falling out with
this person,
like a falling
out as in
were-closefriends-andthere-was-anactual-reason-