You know you're not that awkward. You have friends, you like to talk to people, you know how to talk to adults. But, regardless of your level of awkwardness, some situations are just unavoidable. You're not awkward. You just have awkward encounters.
1. The pretend to be interested in the scenery until you get close enough to say "Hi."
You recognize someone walking on campus, but you're still separated by 30 seconds of walking distance. It's a game time decision. Do you wave "hi" now and walk that painful 30 seconds looking at each other, or do you pretend to suddenly be interested in the scenery around you, pretending to not notice Stacey from math class until the last possible second?
2. The "we've spoken at parties but pretend we don't know each other sober."
Apparently even if you talk to someone at a party for an hour, you still don't know them. I'm guessing there is some unspoken college rule that everyone follows. Something like you can't actually know someone until you've talked to them at a non-party venue. I guess until then saying hi to DJ Joe from soccer parties is out of the question.
3. The no-response wave.
It doesn't matter if the other person didn't see you or if they were ignoring you, it's mortifying regardless. At least once in everyone's college-career life they have waved or said "hi" to someone who hasn't responded back. The fear sets in when you wonder how many people around you noticed your unanswered greeting. 4. The respond-to-a wave that wasn't meant for you.
It may be someone you know or someone you don't know. But, when we are convinced someone is waving at us, our natural impulse is to wave back. We can't help it. But, when you realize that their wave was actually meant for someone behind you, dread sets over. "WHY didn't you make sure they weren't waving at someone behind you before you waved back?!?"
5. The so zoned out you don't even recognize your friend.
It's not malicious. But, sometimes you walk past someone without even realizing who they are. Their face just doesn't register in your mind because you're too busy thinking about the nap you're going to take between economics and calc. When you realize who you just passed without greeting, all you can hope is that they will forgive you. Please.
6. The same-stepping encounter.
You're trying to get out of someone's way, and they're also trying to get out of your way. But, you both move in the same direction. So you move back to the other side, but so do they. This prompts the cycle of "same-stepping" until one of you is fed up with the awkwardness and lets the other decide which way they want to go first. Although this is only a few seconds of awkwardness, it feels like a year when it's happening.
7. The double... triple... quadruple take.
You notice someone in the dining hall. But they aren't looking in your direction so there is no hello or head nod. But, as you're turning away, they turn to look at you. So you turn back to look at them again, but now they have turned their head. This vicious cycle could continue for seconds or even minutes until you synchronize your glances and finally give a non-chalant head nod. Awkkkk.
8. The avoid eye contact at all costs.
You're about to pass Jason (who you embarrassed yourself in front of last weekend). The situation is too awkward for you to make eye contact, so you take to your phone--and viciously. Most likely you're text-bombing your group chat something along the lines of: "OMG GUYS" or "Help" or "SOS this is so awkward someone answer so I look like I'm doing something!"
