A lesson in elevator etiquette

Now that we have lived here for almost 2 years, I find that there are certain situations or customs in our Swiss life which first seemed unusual to me; but, they are now second nature.  It is almost as if my brain has "forgotten" how I used to handle these situations in the US and instead I have fully adapted to the Swiss standards.  Here is an example of one of these aspects that are now second nature to me:

A lesson in elevator etiquette

In the Northeast US, when I would enter an elevator with strangers, I (maybe) would enter the elevator with a smile or a head nod, ride up in silence, and exit in silence. When strangers would say hello or goodbye to me in elevators I would immediately think they were either deranged or had ulterior motives... (sad but true!)

Meanwhile, the Swiss French have a complete set of elevator etiquette rules. The concept is fairly basic, you have to say hello and goodbye as you are entering and exiting any elevator ride with someone else (stranger or not).  For example as you're waiting for the elevator to arrive, you say "hello" ("Bonjour" in French) to anyone who is also waiting in the area with you for the elevator to arrive. You then ride the elevator up with this person and when you exit the elevator, you must say "have a good day" ("Bonjournee" in French). If you don't say these words at both entrance and exit, you will basically be written off as a rude American. The complex part about this is that the sequence of words changes depending on the time of day....

Morning: Bonjour/Bonjournee

Lunch time: Bonjour/Bon Ap (which means "enjoy your meal")

Afternoon: Bonjour/Bon Apres Midi (which means "have a good afternoon")

Evening: Bonsoir (which means "good evening")/Bonsoiree (which means "have a good evening")

Now every time I enter an elevator here, I automatically have these phrases burned into my brain and I don't even think about what to do/say anymore.

This is just one, small example; but, when I stop and actually think about this transition that my brain has made, it is both a happy sensation because it makes me feel more "local" here (and let's be honest, its better to be nice to strangers!); but, it also sometimes makes me sad because I feel I am losing a piece of my US-self, even if the situation or custom is really trivial... so there you have it, silly situations like elevator etiquette make me miss the US!