Yet another senior idol has called out the changing greeting culture among younger idols, and this time, it’s Girls’ Generation’s Hyoyeon taking the shots.
On November 29, Hyoyeon appeared as a special guest on SBS PowerFM’s Cultwo Show, along with veteran idols such as Koyote‘s Baekga and H.O.T‘s Jaewon. During the episode, they talked about the greeting culture among idols, noting how drastically it has changed over the years.
Recalling her rookie day, Hyoyeon bragged that she and her peers used to “bow at a 90-degree angle” even while receiving food deliveries. She added, “When I put out the dishes, I cleaned up all the food so it looked like I had washed them,” explaining that she felt compelled to be respectful toward people who delivered food to her every day.
Later in the episode, the topic of greeting came up again, and Hyoyeon directly called out the new greeting culture among idols, calling it disappointing. Though she said her preferences were a bit “old-fashioned,” Baekga and Kim Taegyun agreed with her criticism, saying it was a basic manner that everyone should pay attention to.
When Jaewon asked if juniors still greet her at broadcasting stations, Hyoyeon surprisingly revealed, “These days, they don’t greet us at all.” Baekga then shared his experience with how things have changed in recent times.
“We go to broadcasting stations every year to promote our albums, right? But we don’t let others come to greet us,” Baekga explained, adding that they felt bad seeing juniors line up and wait to greet them. He said that while in his rookie years, idols would line up to say hello to seniors, now broadcasting producers come to their waiting rooms to greet them personally. “It feels strange,” he added.
Hyoyeon responded by saying she also felt uncomfortable being greeted like that. “But when if we cross paths in the hallway, they should at least make eye contact or nod,” she added. Hyoyeon noted that nowadays, juniors barely even make eye contact, and hence, they don’t bother with greetings either.
Meanwhile, Hyoyeon isn’t the first senior idol to shed light on this changing greeting culture. OH MY GIRL‘s Seunghee also expressed her stern stance on this issue. Read more about it here.
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