The High School Run-In

Don't you hate it when you run into those generic friends/acquaintances from high school? There are about 15-20 people with whom I graduated who I still consider my friends and enjoy socializing with while I'm at college and also home on breaks. With the exception of these 20 people, I don't really wanna talk to you. It sounds harsh, but that's my stance on the situation and I would believe most people feel the same way. Yeah there are those people in high school that you may have had their phone number and randomly hung out with them at some point or another. That was great in high school, but now it's a probably a non-existent relationship. I'm gonna present a situation to you and to try and describe what I'm talking about if you haven't already been able to relate to it. This happens to me probably once per break and a couple times in the summer, so about half a dozen times a year. I will be at the mall with my brother or friend or maybe just walking around by myself, when from a distance I see someone that I think I graduated with. I probably haven't seen them in a couple years which allows enough time for them to change their appearance. Also, I graduated with over 350 people so I had a difficult time recognizing some of these people during high school. As you approach each other from opposite ends in the long corridor of the mall, you begin to recognize the person as generic friend/acquaintance. Someone you knew in high school but weren't close enough with or didn't really care to maintain the bond of a real, legitimate friendship. This is where you have to develop a plan of attack. I usually try to avoid conversation at all costs so my usual strategies are in no particular order: 1) turn around, right, or left without being obvious about avoiding him or 2) find a safe haven such as a restroom or a store. Both of these options do however still carry a risk. With the first option you could turn a different direction and be staring in the face of yet another generic high school person. That would be really unfortunate. Additionally, with the second option you are completely cornering yourself either in the restroom or store so both options carry their own risk. If you decide against attempting to avoid the person in those manners, you now have a secondary list of options. These include, in no particular order: 1) as you walk past you can pull the whole "I'm talking on my cell phone" routine (most of us have done it), 2) walk past with your head down or 3) walk past in a brisk fashion like you're quickly traveling somewhere and give him a generic smile or head nod accompanied with a "hey" that you would possibly give any random person that you make awkward eye contact with, and play it off like you don't recognize him. If all of these fail, you're screwed. Sometimes I freeze in these situations and find myself getting stuck in an unfortunate conversation with somebody who doesn't really care about the answers to the questions he's asking. He's asking the questions because that's what people do in these situations, not because he's legitimately interested. Examples of these questions are, "what's your major again?" or "are you still dating (insert name of generic high school boyfriend/girlfriend)?" The question I can't stand the most is, "wait where do you go to school again?" Honestly? Okay, I can see forgetting your friend's major because I don't know all of my closest friend's majors, but forgetting where I go to school is bad. That is when you know they really don't care about maintaining the friendship after high school. These situations can easily be avoided by staying out of public places and moving far from home at the conclusion of college. This is no guarantee that these situations will be entirely avoided, however. My sister Meg, who was recently on her honeymoon in Mexico (and also provided me with the idea for this entry), saw and had an awkward encounter with two of her husband's former classmates. Sorry for the awkward experience Meg, but I'm glad it generated another annoying occurrence that could strike when you truly least expect it.

Until next time,

Zac