The awkward hello

I consider myself a relatively awkward person. If you hear of someone falling down the stairs in front of a group of people or having an awkward interaction with someone, its probably me. Even though my days are full of these awkward encounters, they never seem to get easier. From someone who experiences awkwardness on a daily basis, there’s almost nothing worse than waving hello to someone when they aren’t speaking to you.

I can remember it so clearly, and I still internally cringe just thinking about it. It was a Tuesday morning and I was a little sleep deprived, ready for morning class. I arrived and started walking up the stairs, which already asks for the awkward I don’t know you but I want to be polite smile. That wasn’t the worst of it though. Picture the scene, I’ve just started the long walk up the stairs when I see someone at the top. I’m already planning my awkward-polite smile when they start waving. Now I’d never met the person waving, or at least I didn’t think I had so I reluctantly returned the wave, when that’s when I heard it. The dreaded “Not you, behind you”. And sure it was accompanied with a smile, but it didn’t stop my cheeks going red and my adrenaline wanting to make me run up those stairs. It was tragic, an absolute nightmare.

I don’t think I’ve ever scanned in through the turnstile faster than I did that day.