Awkwarding. in The Napkin.

I was entering ShopRite when I got greeted by someone working there. I go in there all the time, so it threw me off-guard. I said, “Hi. ....Door greeter?”

She giggled and said something about online coupons. I asked her to give me her spheel, and so she did. I wasn’t sure if there was anything else she needed to say before I moved off. “Anything else?” She said that was all. I said, “Sorry I’m awkward.”

It’s a weird policy, but if people are polite and want to sell me something, I have a rule of listening. It’s counterintuitive, but I figure someone like her is paid to sit there for her shift and get routinely ignored. If I can awkwardly muddle through a short interaction, I might give her a story, if not make her day.

I’d rather be awkwardly nice than confidently rude. (Something I need to remind myself when social anxiety flares up. I’m prone to major dickness out of some perceived need to defend myself.)

Looking back, we were both kind of awkward. So I guess we just awkwarded at each other and somehow it worked out.