[coderdude]

It's like that in southern California. Most people out here act cold and just want to keep to their own. People rarely say hello to anyone they pass on the streets. Just keep your eyes pointed forward and maybe you won't have to interact with another person. The mean streets of Orange County.

[saryant]

That was the biggest difference I noticed when I moved from the Bay Area to Texas. Everyone says hello, everyone asks how you're doing. I grew up thinking no one was ever nice to a stranger. It was unnerving at first but frankly it's more pleasant this way.

And it's not just the south, been this way everywhere else I go in the middle of the country.

(Except on Houston's roads, of course. That's a different world entirely)