I am guessing that they would not be...I would not be.

For starters if a salute is "haphazard" or even left-handed (I see that occasionally) that is good enough for me as it is for all of us I am guessing. But NO salute is not good enough. A wave just means "see ya later." A salute means "there is nothing impeding aircraft movement, we the ramp crew no longer are responsible for the safe movement of your aircraft, you are clear to lower flaps, commence taxi and have a great day." In a weird way you can think of the salute as the formal "severing" of the link between the flight and ground crew. The ground crew no longer has "ownership" of the aircraft and any future movement is solely the responsibility of the flight crew.

Am I taking one sentence in the FOM and needlessly taking an entire paragraph to explain it, all in a humorous thread titled "Tool of the Day." Yep.

But...it really isn't that hard, and I have rarely if ever seen a ground crew not do it.