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There's always my favorite: finding out if it's appropriate to hug someone you want to hug without it being awkward. My strategy: Approaching from a bit of a d

There's always my favorite: finding out if it's appropriate to hug someone you want to hug without it being awkward. My strategy: Approaching from a bit of a distance with arms down look happy and kind of throw your arms out - half "this could turn into a hug" half "I'm just excited to see you." If they reach out a hand, shake it. If they reciprocate, go in for the hug. If they don't, stay safe with the handshake. The point is to give them time and opportunity to react with body language rather than speech, but not so much time that everyone's stuck thinking about it and upping the awkward factor. If it does get awkward just change the subject and move on. You'll both forget about it in a few minutes. Either way, I'm with everyone else here in that I believe informal greetings are for informal relationships.

Rickasaurus 13y ago
Hilariously well thought out, I'm going to try this.
- seanp2k2 13y ago
  100% Agree. This is 100% useful for awkward people like me though. I'm sure I'm not alone.
  - benjamincburns 13y ago
    I used to be quite awkward and reserved. Then I realized that I spend most of my life solving problems. This is just another problem. I can solve this. The biggest thing - confidence. Just like your 80-year-old grandparent that's scared to touch a computer because they might break it, I was scared in social interactions because people might not like me. There's a lot of people out there and most are a lot more awkward and tolerant of awkwardness than you think. Just don't spill water on the keyboard or download a virus and you probably won't break it. Once you internalize that, you'll get the confidence to fiddle and experiment. The other biggest thing - discomfort. Focus on avoiding the other person's fears/discomfort and work hard to squash your own. Also, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Rickasaurus 13y ago

Hilariously well thought out, I'm going to try this.

seanp2k2 13y ago
100% Agree. This is 100% useful for awkward people like me though. I'm sure I'm not alone.
- benjamincburns 13y ago
  I used to be quite awkward and reserved. Then I realized that I spend most of my life solving problems. This is just another problem. I can solve this. The biggest thing - confidence. Just like your 80-year-old grandparent that's scared to touch a computer because they might break it, I was scared in social interactions because people might not like me. There's a lot of people out there and most are a lot more awkward and tolerant of awkwardness than you think. Just don't spill water on the keyboard or download a virus and you probably won't break it. Once you internalize that, you'll get the confidence to fiddle and experiment. The other biggest thing - discomfort. Focus on avoiding the other person's fears/discomfort and work hard to squash your own. Also, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.