Personal Privacy and False Familiarity

The ever-irascible Kim du Toit has some thoughtful words about the expectation of privacy in our personal lives and how we interact with people we don't know. He contrasts the culture here in the United States with that of his home country of South Africa:

We Americans are too quick to impose ourselves on other people, too quick to want to establish some kind of personal bond with total strangers.

”Hi; my name is George, and I’ll be your server tonight.”

1.) I don’t care who you are.
2.) Obviously you are my server, because you came up to my table carrying a menu.

It’s that kind of false familiarity which gets on my nerves, and makes me want to say something extremely rude back to the person—because assuming familiarity with me is horribly rude to start off with.

He also addresses the privacy of "public" people such as celebrities and those who have been caught up in important events.

Now I admit that I tend to be very friendly to the people who are providing me service. Part of the reason is that I'm a generally gregarious person, though I do have times when I just want to be left alone. Another part, however, is that I've done that type of job myself when I was in college and I've learned not to be a jerk. Of course, if service is poor or I have an issue with the establishment I'm not going to ignore it, but being friendly up front tends to result in better service. Imagine that.

Even so, I don't offer details of my private life nor solicit such details from them. I'm more than polite, which may push Kim's comfort boundaries, but I save the private stuff for if and when I get to know someone better.