The Passing

Don't you hate it when you have an awkward encounter with someone you're walking past? There are really any number of awkward situations that stem from this, so I'm gonna try to name a few in no particular order. The first one that comes to mind is the door hold. I personally enjoy holding doors open for people because it makes me feel like I'm doing a good deed. At the same time I don't just stand there all day holding the same door open. The unfortunate exchange I'm talking about is when you know there is someone behind you but he is that perfect distance away so that you don't know whether to hold the door for him or not. Once you get to the door you hesitate because you still haven't made your decision. At this point it's safer to hold the door because the hesitation has caused the person behind you to realize you considered holding the door, but if you don't do it then you seem like a jerk. The only problem is if you do this then it feels like you're holding the door for an awkward amount of time. This isn't a terrible encounter, but still annoying. Another walking situation that gets on my nerves is simply when you walk past someone you generically know and you are unsure how to greet him, if at all. This person is probably someone you had a group project with two years ago, is the friend of a friend you met at a party, or maybe someone you did a random community service project with. You know who he is and you're almost positive he knows who you are, but you probably don't remember each others names and don't know how to greet each other. When the two of you are about ten feet away you definitely make eye contact, but when the time comes to actually pass this individual you pretend like you didn't see him. Whether you turn your head the opposite direction, pretend to be in deep thought, or pull out your cell phone like you've just received a text message, you purposefully avoid the person. Again, not a huge deal: just really, really annoying. My advice is to just say, "hey." That way you're not ignoring him but you're not committing to a 15 minute conversation either. The final annoying passing I can think of is when you make eye contact with someone you don't know. Each of you just so happens to look over at the same time and you stare into each others eyes for the second and a half that you're passing each other, but no one does anything. It's just an awkward feeling. I honestly cannot express how many times I've made an awkward smile at someone because I don't want to give him a cold, hard stare. After the fact I usually feel like an idiot because he probably just whispered to his friend, "did you see the way that kid smiled at me? Weird." Oh well, worse things have happened. I guess just to summarize the easiest way out of these awkward situations is to just be courteous. Take that extra second to hold the door, say hi to the person you might not know too well, and if you're gonna smile, try to make it as normal as possible.

Until next time,

Zac