It's curious to me that I've on a number of occasions seen UK folks make reference to the horrors of US folks saying hello in the elevator. Generally here in t

It's curious to me that I've on a number of occasions seen UK folks make reference to the horrors of US folks saying hello in the elevator. Generally here in the US I don't see a lot of that. It's usually a dance of awkwardly looking around so as to not make eye contact and then have to acknowledge others in the elevator. More recently, cell phones make it easier to have something to stare at. Perhaps it is other parts of the US where folks typically chat in the elevator? When I was in Tokyo last, I got in the elevator and there was one other guy in there with me. He asks me if I'm American and when I said yes, he grinned approvingly and enthusiastically said he, in fact, was South Korean. I was very confused as to why he thought that meant we had some kind of connection. He then asked if I wanted to come back to his room for a drink, which made me very uncomfortable because I just wasn't able to read the social cues well enough to understand his intentions. I politely said I was busy. I'm guessing he was just trying to be friendly, but I sorely wished I could just stare at my cell phone and not interact with him.