People you sort of know is technically called an acquaintance, unless said people are on your Facebook, then these people are upgraded to the moniker of "friends."
Admittedly, running into anyone you haven't seen in forever and day is semi-awkward as there are the following factors to consider:
1.) Do they see me?
The "if I can't see them, they can't see me" reasoning comes into play here. If you are the only one to see said person, then it is up to you whether to bridge communication (time, distance, memory as well) with that person. Of course, you run the risk of looking over-eager or crazy (depending on whether that person remembers you). If they see you and come up, then you've been shanghai-ed (or "this was...nice running into you in this frozen food aisle, library, cinema, gas pump...) and have to talk to that person (though you may want to) until said person deems it done.
2.) Are we going to acknowledge each other?
This is usually solved by sub-considerations such as "were we really close?" or "are they the type of person to greet me?" This obviously takes away those people who you only saw in passing during class that one time or people who are shy little buggers and probably wont make a move. Success!
Though, this also means you need to consider whether you are you the type to go greet someone or do they think you're the one to make the first move? These questions are usually reserved for running into exes or one-night stands I'd imagine.
This may be lengthy or over-thought, but that's what ran through my head when I spotted Warren M. during my trip to Goodwill this evening.
I've known Warren since third grade or so. We've been in the same class up till fifth grade, and we rode the same bus during middle school. High School's a bit hazy, but I knew of him then. Mentally, the length of time I've known Warren M. to the actually amount I know of him were at odds. Personally, we're sort-knowing kind of people.
This merited the spot and run technique. I saw him, but he didn't see me! I forwent an awkward hug and small talk about futures (and being a college-soon-to-be-graduate, I hate nothing more than that question of "What are you up to?").
Of course, being my life, I don't get away that easily. I just had to spot a cute skirt to try.
It was coming out when I saw him right in front of me. I paused because I thought he'd greet me, but when he didn't I realized another considerations:
3.) Do I still look the same?
This really put myself into perspective because I'm pretty sure I haven't changed since high school. I still don't wear make-up and I haven't done any facial altering surgery. My hair is shorter, but that's by accident really.
I walked past him to go hang up my rejected skirt, the one that got me into this situation, and I had this free feeling that I got away with something. He didn't recognize me! He doesn't know that I am me! Though this did open up to: or is that him?
I looked again, to see if I was mistaken, and he was still staring at me. If I didn't know the guy I would call him creepy and rude. But I figured he was doing the same dance in his head about me, so I went over and greeted him (muffling his name just in case I was wrong) because I'm a masochist when it comes to awkward situations.
Turns out it was Warren M. I was the one who asked the dreaded "what are you up to" question, and we tried our bests to share mutual information on people we thought were mutual acquaintances (we have none). He told me to look him up on Facebook (we couldn't remember if we were friends), and I used the closing line of "well, it was nice running into you!" I think he was taken aback by how quickly I ended it, but if we knew none of the same people, had nothing to catch up, and didn't really have any mutual pasts to reminisce over, then what's the point?
We're both just standing there being silly.
