What Goes Around…

For those of you who don’t know, I have a problem with being a tiny bit unfriendly. It’s actually bordering on being rude so it’s something I’ve been working on for about 2 years now. Before going any further, you should probably read my post in August that will explain this and make this blog much more enjoyable.

You see, I currently live in the same area that I grew up. Meaning I run into a lot of people that I knew a long time ago and quite possibly haven’t seen in a long time. Some of these people I was friends with, some I just knew of, but most, if not all, have not been in my life for years. So it’s weird and awkward and I hate it when I run into them. I hate not knowing if they’ll remember you, or if they knew you in the first place. And I change my hair style and gain/lose weight so often that I often believe people wouldn’t recognize me anyway.

Now I’m assuming you read my post entitled “Guilty” that I also linked to above. If you haven’t, you should. I know it’s long but do a little skim and get to the story about New Paltz. Once you’re done reading, continue reading below.

Today while food shopping I saw an old friend in the distance. Now it’s not someone I was close with but he did date my senior year best friend for a few years so he was often around. I actually have pictures of him and his friend joining us at my parents house to bake cookies. About 4 or 5 years ago I ran into him at the mall and we had a nice little chat, catching up on things and all. So when I saw him, I said hello. Okay no not exactly. At first I did a quick 180 and decided I didn’t need to buy fruit anyway and ran to a checkout line. I felt a little guilty but hey, he didn’t see me so at least I wasn’t as rude as I was in New Paltz! So as my items are being rung up I look to my left and realize that he and his father(?) are right behind me in line. So I did what all sane people would do. I ran to the end of the lane to start bagging my groceries, keeping my head down at all times. But this could only last so long. I eventually had to look up, get back to the counter and swipe mr. credit card. As I walked over to the credit card machine we caught eyes. So I ever so slyly said “hey! how’s it going?” and  I got a very shakey “heeeyy I didn’t recognize you…” back. Within seconds I realized that he had no idea who I was. So we made very awkward small talk as his father looked curiously on and I waved goodbye as I left the store.

I felt like such a fool. He had no idea who I was and I probably made it more awkward by not saying something when I realized that. I could have easily told him who I was and how I know him and he’d be like “duh! We used to hang.” But nope, I left things awkward.

So here’s my conclusion, the good and the bad. The good: I took a step. I made the first move towards not being shy, rude and unfriendly. The bad: What goes around comes around. I now know how those people in New Paltz felt. But hey, at least he humored me and spoke back.