Culture

In New York City, if a teenager walks (skateboards) up to a group his/her friends, he kind of just slips into the group, maybe offering a smile to someone, or teasing someone a bit, almost as if theyve been there for a while and don't mean to distract from the momentum of whats going on.

In Berlin if a teenager walks up to a group of his friends (on a subway platform for instance) he/she walks around to each of the afore gathered people, looks each of them in the eye, does some sort of a predetermined hand greeting, and says something akin to hello how are you.

Now I understand that europe is much more ritualistic than the US and certasinly more than New York, I just wonder what are the benefits of one or the other method of greeting. I see how in the Berlin greeting everyone is more assured of knowing each other and how to address one another moving forward, which are both pluses. But to my north eastern sensibility it kind of seems like a certain waste of time, and seems to have an adverse affect on the dynamics of the group. For instance if the group is talking about something important and everytime someone else arrives they all immediately make a timeout to welcome the latecomer.