Context: I was walking down the cafeteria of my college, and it’s relatively empty at 6 pm, at least on Tuesday’s; it seems, I’m back for another semester, and as I’m close to sitting down this guy waves, at me but with a complete neutral unmoving face actually stone cold. I know that he was expecting me to recognize him, but the way it happened in 2 seconds was so strange, especially the way he waved, yet had no facial expression, and had his legs outstretched. I’m not going to lie. I was slightly terrified because I (someone who doesn’t really remember people I barely talked to in one class) didn’t remember this dude, and he was with all seriousness, waving. It wasn’t even one of those waves where maybe you want to get to know the person and end up laughing to your friends because you made the other person confused. No, this was serious, and although I feel bad about not recognizing him, I just think it’s important to point out how not to approach people you haven’t seen in a while, especially for guys or else you’ll end up making women nervous
TIPS
First: If you are over the age of 16, please do not wave with your whole forearm like there’s no tomorrow, just raise your fingers a bit along with your elbow. Casual and at medium speed. Make eye contact and SMILE or say the person’s NAME. If you automatically call attention to yourself, don’t smile, and just sit there waiting, it’s going to make people nervous and avoidant of you.