Awkward Encounters

So you’re walking to class/work/to the store/your dog/your cat, and you come across someone whom you normally see somewhere that isn’t where you’re currently standing, whether it be at school, at work, or any other place you met them. Suddenly, you feel awkward. Has this happened to you? I know it happens to me.

I find it strange that we are weird about meeting people socially that we normally know through somewhere business related. In other words, seeing someone you know NOT in the place you normally hang with them, it feels awkward to talk to them. For example: I met someone recently who I only know around my dorm area, and they looked directly at me at least three or four times, and didn’t say a word. Sure, I could have waved, or just shouted, “HEY!”, seeing as I was about twenty-five feet away from him. 

Is it just impossible to acknowledge that these people you know CAN and WILL appear in your life, and that it’s perfectly okay to talk to them outside your natural comfort zone with them? This could apply to anything! When you have a person you talk to a lot in one of your classes, you feel pretty comfortable around them. Once you see them anywhere else, such as the grocery store, or a pet store, you become uncomfortable with that person. Can this really affect how we act around this person? And how is it that we just seem to forget who they are when we aren’t seeing them in places we normally see them? This bothers me. It really grinds my gears. How can you just act as if you’ve never seen them when you have absolutely awesome conversations with them in your common meeting area? I wish I could figure this out, but human motives aren’t always so clear. Could it be because they’re used to seeing you in a certain place, and when you see them elsewhere, it throws you off guard? In my opinion, that shouldn’t affect much, but what can you do? 

Kind of a sporadic topic, but hey, that’s what I do. I comment on those random happenings in life that keep you pondering.