You know the scenario. You are walking down a long hallway. Someone else is walking the opposite way. You’re going to be walking toward each other for at least the next twenty seconds, yet neither of you know each other.
What do you do?
I’m playing this game with myself today: trying to act in a (very slightly) unconventional manner when in a public area. The traditional response, when approaching a person down a long hallway with nobody else in sight, seems to be to find something interesting to look at along the sides of the hallway until within speaking distance of the other person, then quickly look at them, give a brief nod, small gesture, or “hello”, then move onward. This situation changes if there are other people in the hallway; people stare at their feet, sometimes speed up to be walking near the other person whom they apparently know if they don’t know you, etc. If people are carrying papers on that long approach, they’ll tend to shuffle or straighten them with great interest, rather than make prolonged eye contact on that long approach.
I found this morning that simply watching them as they walk towards you definitely creeps them out 🙂 I was playing my little game, and decided to watch this guy as we approached each other. He desparately looked left, right, up, and down, seemingly finding interesting things to look at during our very long approach down a very long hallway, with frequent glances in my direction to see if I was still staring at him.
He gave an audible sigh after I passed and gave a cheerful “howdy!”, moving on.
What interesting body language have you run into? I’m trying to pay more attention to people’s body language these days (a language that, really, still feels like a foreign language to me), and it’s kind of fun figuring out the unspoken social graces which grease the cogs of society.
Talk sooner
Break the ice rather than have that uncomfortable time. Say “Good morning! How’s it going today?” with a big smile on your face! The ones who are truly uncomfortable will still ignore you. Others will smile back and respond. Then you’re past each other and it’s not so weird.–
Christy
Holler…
Yeah, but at the initial distances we’re talking about, that’s more like a shout than a say 🙂
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Matthew P. Barnson
You could..
Sing “I’M GONNA SEX YOU UP!!”
As loud as you can..
a lot.
Playing the game
So I guess I’ve actually played this game my whole life, then. I was trying to forget that particular phase of my adolescence…
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Matthew P. Barnson
Sorry to change the topic, but i’m about a week late….
Please check Vuja De replies…
EDIT by matthew: linked.
Whistle while you walk
Whistle! They will eighther think that you are crazy or start whistling themselves. Whistle, smile, say hello, and keep on whistling. People seem to be at ease when they think that your happy. Teresa
Try walking on the left side of the hall
If you really want to see someone uncomfortable while playing this game, try walking on the left side of the hall way. Like with driving, people tend to walk on the right side of the hall. Every now and then if i’m feeling in a completly random mood, its fun to walk on the left side of the hallway and see the reaction of people coming from the other end of the hall. Maybe next time I’ll add in the whistle too.. Thanks Teresa. 😉 — The Powerful, The Pleasurable, the One-and-Only Bryan Gregg
Speaking of making people uncomfortable…
So speaking of making people uncomfortable, I hope you like the signature line I created for you, Bryan 🙂 You can always change it in your user preferences…
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Matthew P. Barnson