Greeting The Already-Been Greeted

It’s time for another round of:
Awkward Situations Which Really Shouldn’t Be All That Awkward, But Still Are

{Pause for applause as theme music fades in}

Here’s the situation:

You are at your place of employment and have already interacted with a fellow co-worker. Maybe this co-worker sits in a cubicle next to you. Perhaps you’ve just shared light water-cooler talk. Or maybe you’ve worked together and solved a complex problem using spreadsheets and whiteboards and acronyms. Whatever the case, you’ve already gone far beyond your initial greetings for the day.

Later on, you are out and about, walking the hallways. You could be heading to the restroom, the break room, the cafeteria, or attempting to sneak out to your car for a quick nap. Then you see that same co-worker, walking towards you.

What do you do?

You’ve already greeted and talked to this person, so saying ‘Hello’ seems incredibly awkward, not to mention way too formal.

However, ignoring them completely seems rude and snooty.

Do you go with the chin-up head nod, followed by a casual “How’s it going?” or a “What’s up?” That still seems awkward. You’ve probably already asked your co-worker that! Plus, what are you, twenty-one?

Or do you go with the reserved, chin-down head nod, with no verbal greeting? This may seem like a better option, but isn’t that almost as bad as ignoring them completely? It’s almost as if you’re too busy to take the time of day to greet them in a friendly manner.

This should not be an awkward situation, but it is!

Keep in mind that your co-worker is feeling the same thing too, but they’re not sure if you are. That leaves you both in a state of complete uneasiness, as neither wants to do something that makes them look stupid or feel more awkward, but also nobody wants to accidentally insult the other.

There is no good way to handle this situation.

In a best case scenario, there is an escape route between you and your co-worker, and you can swerve away to an adjacent hallway and avoid the confrontation completely. A broom closet also works, but it’s kind of uncomfortable stuffing yourself in, especially if you have to navigate a swarm of mop handles and half-filled buckets of cleaning solution.

Perhaps there is somebody else you can stop and talk to, just until your co-worker passes. This gets awkward, however, if you’ve never talked to this other person in your life.

You can always pretend your shoe is untied and busy yourself fiddling with it, all to let your co-worker pass without forcing any sort of awkward discourse between you. But this gets weird if your co-worker has the same idea, and you both wind up kneeling and fiddling with your shoelaces at the same time.

Finally, and this is a worst case scenario, you could spill the coffee that you hopefully are carrying all over yourself. This creates a whole other set of issues, but at least you’ll be too busy screeching as the hot liquid eats away at your flesh to have to make a decision as to how to greet the co-worker that you’ve already greeted.

Feel free to contribute any other possible solutions that are inevitably better than what have been provided here.

This concludes today’s round of:
Awkward Situations Which Really Shouldn’t Be All That Awkward, But Still Are

{Pause for applause as theme music fades out}