“hey”

It’s the most common instant message I receive and the one I’m least likely to respond to.  It’s an opener with no purpose, no direction.  Hey can lead you anywhere, yet nowhere, which is why I usually don’t bother to reply to most people who think that’s enough to start a conversation.  No, I’m a doer.  I need some sort of action and interaction, whether through sharing a statement or asking a question.  A simple greeting via the internet just doesn’t cut it.  Imagine if that’s all you got in e-mails.

“Just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

I wouldn’t even bother answering back to that.  To me, it’s like great, thanks for saying hi… now what?  Why did you greet me?  Did you want to catch up after a long time?  Did you have a question for me?  Did you just want to share a bit of your life?  Give me something to work with here!  It annoys me when people wait hours for me to reply to their one word before finally getting to the point.  I like to get the point as fast as possible and know exactly why I’m spending time interacting with someone.  And so, if people won’t even make the effort to type more than a single greeting to me so I can get an inkling of where they’re trying to take the conversation, I won’t make the effort to get the point out of them.

Even something as simple as “Hey, what’s up?” is fine!  At least then there’s something I can do right away – answer the question!  The conversation may last no more than two lines that way, but I’d at least give you the time of day to respond to the question.  Hey means nothing to me.  The most pointless conversation I ever had was an exchange of “hey”s followed by “what’s up” and “nothing much.”  Seriously, you have nothing better to say?!  -___-  I’m not looking for spectacular conversationalists, but some people really need to get the hint that when I’m not talking to them, it’s because they have given me NOTHING to talk about.

Rant over.  Thank you for listening.  🙂