Greeting | Scar Tissue

For the past week, I have focused on greeting like an alpha.

I noticed that just about everyone returned my greeting. It seemed as if most people returned the same greeting I gave them, as if copying me (follow the leader anyone?).

Few people did not return my greeting – I noticed that they were generally pre-occupied with something or in my class year. I knew none of the people who did not return my greeting. Everyone who knew me personally greeted me as I greeted them.

From my observations, it’s not simply a matter of giving an alpha greeting or not. It’s how you do it. There is also a hierarchy of alpha within alpha greetings.

Who goes first?

Do you nod fast or slow?

Do you like them in the eyes?

Generally it seemed as if there was no difference in order of greeting. If you greeted first and somebody reacted, you were the alpha. If you greeted first and they took their time to greet you back, they were the alpha.

It’s best to do a quick twitch upwards and come down slow I have found. It believe it makes you look relaxed. If you do your greeting really quickly you look like you’re in a hurry or on crack. Neither is desirable.

I also noticed that I reflexively beta greet (nod down and then up) others who are higher status than me in multiple ways. For example, an older officer who had authority over me both in rank, school position, and age received a reflexive beta greeting from me.

A student however, even if higher rank than me, would get an alpha greeting all the same most of the time.

All in all, greetings aren’t a big deal as long as you’re comfortable with things and show it.

~Wald

For the next week, I will focusing on giving the alpha version of the common greeting.

That is to say, when I greet someone, I will look them in the eye and tilt my head up, not down. I remember reading in Roissy that alpha males tilt their heads upwards when they greet (dominant) and that betas do the opposite.

Right

Wrong

The second thing I’ll be looking out for, is to observe who nods up and who nods down, and try to guess why. I’ve already had certain observations like how cleaning staff always nods down and some alpha bitches always nod up. I wonder if I’ll get different reactions if I nod first.