Pretending not to recognize someone in public?

[Anonymous]

I once pretended not to speak English when I ran into an old classmate.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine said Hi to a professor from college, and she turned and ran the other way! I guess he made an impression on her.

[Anonymous]

Yes I do it. Usually I am daydreaming or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Just happened to us last week. Dh asked me if we saw our mutual friend and, nope, I was concentrating on what I was doing. So some of us are just oblivious.

[Anonymous]

If it's someone I don't want to talk to I prefer to give them a cold, hard stare before walking away purposefully.

[Anonymous]

Some of my earliest memories involved playing along and hiding with my mum as a toddler when she saw people she knew who talked too much and she didn't want to run into them.

I can remember her disappearing one time and I was starting to loudly call for her when suddenly her hand appeared from inside a circular clothing rack and pulled me in so she could hide from distant family. So there's a tip, if you ever need to hide from someone in a clothing store- there is room in those racks.

[Anonymous]

Some people have bad vision and don’t see very well. So I try to not assume that it was deliberate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I always say hi. It costs me nothing and may improve the other person’s day. Or it may ruin it, if they hated me. Win-win in my book.

Laughing. I love it.

[Anonymous]

I don't pretend if we come face to face and obviously recognize each other, but if I see someone from a distance and have time to avoid them, I usually do. I will go out of my way to avoid talking to someone. My DH is the opposite: he seems to seek out encounters with even the most peripheral acquaintance and will stop and have a long conversation with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people have bad vision and don’t see very well. So I try to not assume that it was deliberate.

This.
People need to understand that as we age, some people cannot see faces well even with glasses and contacts. So, please stop assuming that they are ignoring you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do it, but sometimes I actually cannot make the connection and I don't even realize who it is until the person comes up to me. Masks make this worse.

This. Faceblind to a nearly clinical degree.

Me too, and it is so embarrassing and hard to explain without sounding like I am making up excuses for being rude. I'm not being rude, I just don't "see you."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else do this when they just don’t have the bandwidth?

I glanced in an aisle at the store and saw an old coworker walking my way. I tried to act normal, feign ignorance and ignore, but I’m pretty sure we made eye contact. I just didn’t have it in me to make small talk, so I left the aisle. I feel like crap for doing this, but she didn’t exactly try to spark up a conversation either.

Do people actually engage in every acquaintance they see out in public?

Just nod and continue on or walk by. You sound like a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's someone I don't want to talk to I prefer to give them a cold, hard stare before walking away purposefully.

Southerner. LOL.

How very backwoods of you.

[Anonymous]

My teen does this with the majority of their teachers. I would assume they're probably glad. I've occasionally done it with friends of friends or relatives of friends when I'm not in the mood for niceties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I always say hi. It costs me nothing and may improve the other person’s day. Or it may ruin it, if they hated me. Win-win in my book.

This.