The talmudic teaching that you should "be the first to extend greetings to every person you meet" should also apply to those who perform services for us. Many of us, for example, never bother to learn the name of the waiter who serves us. It would be better, rather, that when the waiter comes to our table, we ask his or her name and tell him ours. This act of good manners will change the encounter between an anonymous server and patron to an encounter between two cordial, mutually respectful human beings.

Joseph Telushkin in A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1