- Holding A Door Open For Someone
You're walking into your dorm, or maybe the campus center building, and there's someone behind you. Not directly behind you, just far enough back that you don't know whether to hold the door open for them or just close it behind you. You want to be nice and hold the door open, but you also don't want to hold it open for so long that it creates a long, awkward pause and forces the person to jog to catch up. So, keep this in mind the next time you're caught in this situation: if the person behind you is more than five steps away, just close the door behind you. If they're five steps or less away, hold the door open.
An extra note of Door-Holding Etiquette: When someone holds the door open for you, always say thank you.
2.Introducing Yourself In Class/Icebreakers
It's the first day of classes, you still haven't adjusted to waking up for class, and you just want to get your syllabus and get out of there. The minute class starts your professor wants you to go around the room and say something about yourself. Literally the worst thing ever. You don't plan on getting to know anyone well enough to need to know the five different nicknames they go by. And then you try to come up with a fun fact about yourself. Is your Netflix addiction fun enough to share? Probably not. The only way to make this as painless as possible is to just sit and practice saying your name and major in your head, because your afraid you'll blank out, and as for fun facts, just fake it till you make it.
3.Public Bathrooms
There are several things about public bathrooms that produce painfully awkward situations. Maybe you feel compelled to acknowledge the person walking out of the stall next to you at the same time you are. With this, remember you don't have to be super friendly with the other people there; after all, the public bathroom really is just business. When you're trying to figure out if there is someone in the stall, knock on the door, or just give it a light tap. Avoid awkwardly ducking to see if there are feet in the stall and don't peer between the cracks. One day, someone will catch you doing this, and at that point, peak levels of discomfort--for both of you--will be reached.
4. When You Can't Find Your Table in the Cafe
You walk into the dinning hall and your friend says they're on the left side all the way in the back next a a table with a kid in a red hat. When you get to the back left, there's no kid with a red hat and every table in that area is empty. Did they mean the other left? You wonder around looking for someone you know and you want to be able to reassure everyone that you do, in fact, have friends. Don't panic, walk with purpose like you know exactly where you're walking to.
5. Group Work
It's a couple of weeks into classes and your professor announces the first group project. The people who have friends in the class give each other weird looks from across the room and hold out their hands to each other. If you don't know anyone, try to look for someone else who is in the same situation. If you're getting into groups of three, chances are there are two other people in your class stuck in the same position as you. Partner up, learn a little bit about the people you're working with, and get going. If as the project progresses you feel like you're carrying more than your fair share of work, don't be afraid to (gently) call people out and ask for help.
6. That Awkward Moment When You Pass That Kid You Relatively Know On The Sidewalk
That girl you talked to a few times in class is working toward you on your way home. What is the extant of your friendship? Do you smile? Wave? Are you both just going to look away? What if you look away and she gets offended? What if you smile and she gets creeped out? We all do this, but we're really just overreacting. When someone you kind of know says hi while passing by, you usually just think they're a nice person. You can't go wrong with just smiling at someone.
