The guys in my housing block have been talking about me to each other..

So.. I've lived here about 5 years now..
When I moved in I decided that I would say hello to everyone I met.. if I met in the lift.. in the laundry.. in corridor.. on the stairs, I always say hello to everyone and make light conversation.

I did this because because I like people.. but also because it was a survival technique I learned as a squatter.

It is much easier to be awful to someone if you don't think of them as a person. By talking to people and having a commonality they stop thinking about you as "other" or "weird" and you become just the person who lives in flat 19.

It's a survival mechanism.