[AngstyLady]

One day, you have a nice friendly conversation with someone and feel like you've connected- this is someone you've known for a while as a good acquaintance- and then a few days later you see them again and they practically recoil at the sight of you and avoid your gaze and ignore you. I thought it was just a weird day maybe - but then I saw her again today and the same thing. What the **** ever- I don't care anymore- people suck (I say this because this is not the first time this has happened- I'm starting to think that there is something wrong with me- my memory hasn't been to good lately either )

Sorry...is there more information here? What was the initial conversation about? What is the context (are you coworkers, classmates, go to the same church?)

I've felt that people were doing that to me before as well when, in reality, they were having a pretty bad day or even week and not thinking about me at all (I tend to make everything about me...it's always ruari.com ) A coworker of mine whom I've known for 10 years, outside of the job, has had some personal issues lately. There have been a few days when she was a total B to me...but it had nothing to do with me (still wasn't right, but it wasn't about me at all). I know it's hard to read people, but there is always the possibility that they weren't, actually, recoiling from you. Or maybe they just didn't want to talk. Doesn't mean they don't like you or didn't enjoy your talk. I do that sometimes. Some people don't understand that I'm a bit introverted and withdraw a little sometimes, but most do and just take it in stride that, sometimes, I'm just not as chatty as I am at other times.

[ChipperMonkey]

How old are you? How old are they?

Maybe its a young person thing. Maybe its a stupid older person thing, yanno, they never grew out of the young petty crap.

[scorpiosis37]

As others have suggested, we need more information about the context to be helpful in understanding the situation.

In general, though, sometimes people want to chat-- and sometimes people don't. Especially with acquaintances and coworkers (rather than close friends/family), if one is busy, stressed out, or on the move, they may just not want to stop and have a chat. If they have a limited amount of free time, they may want to use that time to spend it with family and friends and not just acquaintances who they happen to bump into. That doesn't make them rude or bad. I know that I personally don't really like to stop and chat when I bump into people. I'm usually pretty focused on what I'm doing or where I need to be next, and will often kind of duck out in order to avoid having a conversation. It doesn't mean I dislike that person, just that I'm not good enough friends to want to stop and chat and would prefer to get going with what I'm doing. Like, just today, when I ran into a neighbor, I hurried to my car and said "sorry; gotta go" because I was on my way to work. My neighbor is perfectly nice but she's a big chatter, and if I get into a conversation with her, it will last forever-- and I'm busy-- so I try to avoid it. There are also times I've been on the receiving end of those situations. Sometimes, when I bump into a co-worker at the office, I want to tell them a funny work story-- but they're busy doing a task and don't have time to hear the story. Not a big deal. When they're in the mood to chat another time, they will. At least at work, we tend to have a pretty good thing going where we all accept that sometimes, we want to be social, and other times, we want to just get our work done and can be honest about that with each other.

[specialneedsmom]

Originally Posted by AngstyLady

One day, you have a nice friendly conversation with someone and feel like you've connected- this is someone you've known for a while as a good acquaintance- and then a few days later you see them again and they practically recoil at the sight of you and avoid your gaze and ignore you.

In my experience: I've had a couple of people seem to assume I was trying to glom on to them. Which wasn't the case at all. I am very good at observing boundaries and don't pressure anyone for small talk if they're not interested.

[AngstyLady]

Originally Posted by Ruari

Sorry...is there more information here? What was the initial conversation about? What is the context (are you coworkers, classmates, go to the same church?)

I've felt that people were doing that to me before as well when, in reality, they were having a pretty bad day or even week and not thinking about me at all (I tend to make everything about me...it's always ruari.com ) A coworker of mine whom I've known for 10 years, outside of the job, has had some personal issues lately. There have been a few days when she was a total B to me...but it had nothing to do with me (still wasn't right, but it wasn't about me at all). I know it's hard to read people, but there is always the possibility that they weren't, actually, recoiling from you. Or maybe they just didn't want to talk. Doesn't mean they don't like you or didn't enjoy your talk. I do that sometimes. Some people don't understand that I'm a bit introverted and withdraw a little sometimes, but most do and just take it in stride that, sometimes, I'm just not as chatty as I am at other times.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I think that's what I do- and it was sort work related- I'm just socially retarded I guess. I over think things still sometimes . . . .

Originally Posted by AngstyLady

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I think that's what I do- and it was sort work related- I'm just socially retarded I guess. I over think things still sometimes . . . .

I do that as well. My friends have kind of just come to accept that I overthink, people who don't know me though don't realize that I do it. But even though my friends know I do it, they can't tailor their lives around my overthinking...but they do understand that sometimes I ask seemingly silly questions because I need clarification. Anyway, it's good that you came here to vent rather than venting at the person.

[AngstyLady]

Yeah, I saw the said person again (this was yesterday) and things were fine- it was sorta weird though- she was saying about how she was super stressed last week and lately and it was almost like she had read my post . . probably not though.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

Well people have their ups and downs. How often do you find someone is a bit off one day and the next week they are OK again. You have to take them as you find them and if they really have taken against you so it goes.