Just remember that you all are cogs in the machine, and also nobody owes you anything - including a greeting.

My guess is your workplace has a low personal life/low banter culture or even policy. If thats the case, you may be talking to people who know this and dont want to get in trouble, or to people whose souls are crushed and theres no life behind their eyes.

Don’t take it personal.

I’ve worked in both kinds of environments. I prefer high banter/high friendship environments but i work fine in either.

I went into the office I now work at, greeted 2 coworkers I’ve already worked with, they looked at me, said nothing, kept talking to themselves.

How am I supposed to interpret that?

I think you should interpret it exactly how it sounds like

It may or may not be fair. Personally, with a very few exceptions, I dislike coworkers and want few interactions with them whether positive or negative. I just don’t care. But regardless of that, your coworkers are there because they have to be, and if they’ve decided they don’t want to interact with you and are now letting you know, that is their option, whether it’s fair or not.

We are all ghosts driving bone mech suits covered in flesh armor. Our only knowledge of the universe is our own interpretation of the data provided by our input sensors. In other words, we can only experience the life in our own heads. You do not know what life others lead, what experiences they navigate or what they think of you. Odds are great that your existence does not really carry much weight to them because they are busy and primarily concerned with the existence they deal with. You are the main character in your story, nobody else’s.

Why are they talking to themselves? Are they busy and don’t want to be distracted?

Or do you mean two people were talking amongst themselves?

You must be from one of those sociable states/cultures. Where I’m from you get to work, drop a passing “hey” or head nod, maybe a “how are ya” if you don’t hate each other, and then get in with your work. It’s not rude; they’re your coworkers, not your friends, after all.

Stop caring. Seriously.

These people aren’t your friends. You just need to get along well enough to do your jobs without hating each other.

If they are so miserable that they can’t engage in simple social queues then it’s their problem. If they want to be friendly then be friendly. Otherwise fuck em. Move on.

If it were me I would stop greeting people. Stick to myself. Concentrate on what is important which is putting food on the table. Be cool with the people that are actually cool and leave the rest to be miserable.

Greet them first. Move on with your day.

They’re starting at you because you’re attractive, but also too crazy to befriend.

Is it possible that they greeted you nonverbally since they were already in a conversation?

Don’t let it get to you. They’ll come around if you keep up the positive vibes. You’re also new, so you’ll be learning the behaviors of people you barely know. It’s also possible that these folks are quite friendly, but maintain a strict focus when they aren’t taking a break. There are a million different reasons why they didn’t verbally respond, so don’t take it personally.

The way I greet people at work is a basic “hey” and wave as I walk by, if they don’t seem too busy. If they respond I hear it, if they wave I’ll hopefully see it, and if they do nothing then I’ve already walked past them.

If this was a single occurrence, I’d try not to read too much into it. Maybe they were discussing something private and got all weird when interrupted. Maybe the greeting was non-verbal and you missed the cue. If it’s the beginning of the day, they might not be all awake yet, I dunno.

But if it’s a pattern, or this ever happens and it bothers you, you can try to make the most of it. Imagine they wished you their fondest greetings in a Muppets style voice. It costs you nothing and you can’t change anyone else’s behaviour anyway, might as well do something to put a smile on your face.

even I know that the least you can do is to greet your coworkers

Greeting coworkers is definitely not obligatory, and neither is responding to a nothing greeting. It’s unlikely there’s any hostility or passive aggressiveness.

It’s a ritual you’re used to. It doesn’t mean it’s one they’re obligated to reciprocate.

Your options are essentially to deal with it or ask them what’s up.

Personally I wouldn’t waste time with co-workers who are being rude.

They could be jealous of your position for some reason or taken offense to something random you did. They may just be assholes.

At the end of the day you’re there to work and if it doesn’t affect that I wouldn’t bother.

If they are increasingly hostile maybe have a quiet word with HR.

Why even be offended by such a small thing? What’s even the point of greeting though? I can see it makes sense when you want to talk to someone. The “hey”, “hello” or whatever can work to grab attention and they can acknowledge that by responding back as opposed to immediately talking and the other person missing part of or the entire first sentence, if not more.

But otherwise, there’s a good chance it’s distracting or even distressing.

I usually try to greet back unless it’s awkwardly late because I didn’t expect it, as such it caught me off guard and I was thinking what I am supposed to do and what they want from me for too long.
But this generally makes me forget what I was just thinking of or what I was doing and makes me anxious. Then I may even be thinking of how I handled that for the next few minutes. I hate that.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not mad people for greeting me, I know they just do that, but I’d rather not them do it. And as such I won’t greet anyone either unless I need to talk to them. I don’t want to cause same issues to others only to say “Hi”.

they looked at me, said nothing, kept talking to themselves.

Yep. Sounds familiar. “Am I supposed to say something? I am paying attention, I am looking at you. Go on. Oh, nothing, OK…”

None of us are in your shoes so it’s really tough to say what your coworkers’ motivations are, but at the end of the day you are yourself, you are in charge of your mental and physical well-being. When someone else does something minor and it affects you strongly it’s time to stop thinking about them and start thinking about what’s happening in your own body.

Unfortunately your emotions, like being offended, aren’t entirely in your control. There are a lot of brain connections rustling around up in your noggin that don’t pass through the filter of your consciousness.

The best advice I can offer is to redirect yourself when you start to get offended. Pick a favorite topic, something that you like to think about often, and “switch” to it when you feel yourself getting triggered.

As for how you should act when you aren’t greeted directly? I see no reason for you to change your behavior, just act as though nothing happened, because nothing did happen

meh, don’t let them play mind games.

Bring in some donuts, keeps saying hi, don’t let it get to you. Let your happiness outshine their standoffishness

The worst thing you can do is reciprocate that just lets them win.

People are making some good points about cultural background differences and asking whether you have history already.

Others say, keep doing what you do and don’t let them get to you. I want to jump on that bandwagon, this is going to sound silly cringe but…

… greeting in a polite, confident and friendly manner asserts social dominance. You have no fear. You are the initiator; you take the lead. Be that person.