It’s awkward when you work in an office with really long hallways, and you’re walking down one of the long hallways, and then you notice someone else walking toward you from the opposite end of the long hallway.
I’m never sure at what distance you should start to make eye contact, and what to do until that point.
There’s also the awkardness of whether or not to acknowledge the person in the first place, which depends on how well you know the person and on whether you even know the person. Sometimes I don’t even know whether or not to make eye contact, particularly if it’s a person who seems intent on not acknowledging you. But of course you’ve already acknowledged the person and made eye contact from a distance, because you’re both walking down the hallway and you can’t help but notice each other.
These are some of the things I think about.
Maybe it’s best to work from home.
I completely identify. It’s awkward no matter what, even if you know the person well, and especially so if you only vaguely know the person. :)
Heh. I usually don’t make eye contact until near the last moment, and then if they make eye contact back, I just half-smile (as if to say, “Hey, there … you”) and that’s it. :) Great, now I’ll be even more self-conscious about it, haha.
I loathe such contact, but I generally wait until I’m within 6 feet or so, and I let the other person initiate.
The beauty of wearing glasses is that you can leave it until the last minute. If you walk past someone, and they know you, they’ll usually say “hey” etc. Works for me.
At my job we have this database of all the employees with their photos. What gets awkward is when you’ve looked someone up who you’ve IMed and emailed with before and you end up in the elevator with them but don’t know if they know you. I try to pretend I don’t recognize them, but sometimes you call/email/IM people so often it’d be weird if I didn’t already know what they look like. But yeah, the walking from a distance is awkward.