Is it OK to bow to people I meet?
Hi! I’m 21, and for context, I’ve been in SAP schools for 12 years, 6 years primary school + 6 years IP (remained in the same school environment for sec and JC, I think that narrows it down to DHS or RVHS lol).
(Also I feel like I should say I’m definitely for the abolishment of the SAP system, but that’s like a whole other thing.)
I’ve asked my friends from both SAP and non-SAP schools, and I find this is very much a SAP school thing, but bowing to adults is very ingrained in the school culture. Every time we see an adult (be it teacher, visitor, janitor etc.) around the school compounds, even if we’re just walking past them with no real interactions, we just give them a slight bow.
I think this is a habit I’ve picked up from my schooling years because now I’m out of JC but I still bow to everyone I interact with. I mean I don’t bow to people I’m just walking past, but if let’s say I’m in NTUC and a staff approches me or if I approach a staff, I’ll bow to them out of habit. And I’ll also bow when saying thank you to the cashiers or staff who’ve helped me. Or if I see the janitor in the toilet I’ll also give a slight bow, out of habit. Slightly more absurd would probably be bowing to the old people after I give up my seat to them on MRTs. Slightly more appropriate examples would probably be to my profs/TAs in uni, also out of habit. BTW all these bows aren’t like full 90° bows lah, just slight ones.
I don’t bow to fellow students, though.
Anyway, I know some of my sec school/JC friends also have the same habit as me, but quite a few of my other friends have picked up on this, which they find weird that I’m constantly bowing to random people, which sometimes make me question this habit of mine because I feel like I’m not hurting anyone right? And it really is out of habit, like I genuinely don’t give a second thought before I do it, so it’s not like I’m grovelling or anything.
Some people who I’ve bowed to have expressed annoyance, these are usually profs, which I’ll just keep in mind to not do it again. But I also have a few friends who told me it’s actually quite a bad habit because it makes people around me uncomfortable, especially the people I’m bowing to. But personally I feel like it’s a good habit to have, and I’m showing respect to the people around me.
TLDR: Picked up a habit of bowing to people since young, some people have given feedback that it makes others uncomfortable, but I feel like bowing is showing respect to others.
Just wanted to get some opinions on this, and if it’s a habit I should get rid of?