5/11/11 A Little space, Please!

In this world where everything is so over crowded and personal space is at a minimum, is it too much to ask that strangers not invade what little bit of personal space we have? What I am talking about is when you are walking along, minding your own business, maybe thinking about the day or things you want or need to get done and then, out of the blue, some stranger shouts a happy "Good Morning" to you.
Now don't get me wrong. I am a morning person. But I share that with people I know. I'm not rude to people and if I happen to make eye contact with someone while walking along I am more than willing to give the courteous good morning nod and smile or even say "Good Morning".
What irritates me is to have a "Good Morning" thrown at you from out of left field. When I go to work I have to walk down long hallways to get from the door to my work station. My day starts very early so usually the hallways are fairly empty. I can either walk down the entire length of the building in which case the entrance to the cafeteria is at about the half way mark. I like to walk that way because the elevator is at the end and I can ride up to my floor. Or I can walk about a third of the way down the hall and take the steps to the next floor and then complete the walk down another hallway the rest of the way to my work station.
I get to work right before the cafeteria opens. There is always people standing there waiting and my issue is this one man, who I do not know, who insists on hollering out a "GOOD MORNING" every time I see him. One day I crossed over to the other side of the hallway and I was even looking at stuff on the wall (looking totally in the other directions from where he was standing) and he still shouted out his greeting.
When I said something to one of my co workers about it they said "He is just being nice". Well, who asked for it. If I don't know you and I am not even looking at you, why on earth would you feel the need to greet me???
So now, I look ahead to see who is waiting for the cafeteria to open and, to avoid the annoying friendliness of this stranger, I will turn before I get to him and walk up the steps and down the hallway to my desk. The hallway is usually empty and that suites me just fine.
This morning when I saw he was in line at the cafeteria, I took the steps. Now upstairs I am walking along and thinking about what all I want to do this morning. I am not looking around, in fact I think at the time I think I was looking at my feet and then all of a sudden I hear "Good Morning" from out of nowhere. I look up to see a woman walking down the hallway on the other side, going the other direction and we are just passing.
I did not even know she was there and yet she felt the need to greet me. Why? She could have kept walking and I would have never known she was there. And yet she had to intrude into my private time, private space, my time with just me, like a little child who needs attention. Me, me, me . . . Look at me!!!
Am I in the wrong for feeling irritated because these strangers are pushing their way into my space? I don't think so. I guess what I am trying to say is, if I don't know you and we pass on the street, I am ignoring you for a reason. Please don't feel like my feelings will be hurt if you do the same.