Here are four of the most awkward social situations you’ve definitely experienced…

1.) You make eye contact with a random person. They smile and start waving at you. Who could that be? They don’t look like any of your friends. But perhaps it’s just someone you acquainted a long time ago, a friend of a friend – you have problems with recognising people’s faces anyway. So you smile and wave back, and begin to think about what your first words towards them could be. But suddenly, they give you a startled, confused look. Then you realise – it happened again. Their friendly gestures were directed at a person behind you. Well, that’s just great. You decide never to do that again. But you probably will.

2.) You schedule a meeting with your friend, but then, out of nowhere, a person you like more, who’s funnier and cooler and you know it’s always an adventure hanging out with them, or perhaps your crush (!), messages you and wants to see you. The temptation is stronger than the sense of having to fulfil your social responsibilities – you reschedule the appointment you made in the first place, as an excuse offering an elongated story of how you were suddenly struck down with fever or had a ‘family emergency’ (it’s common knowledge that no one can undermine anything which concerns family matters). It seems like the problem is solved and nobody is harmed. But, since life loves to play tricks at you, there’s a huge chance you will stumble upon the forsaken mate somewhere in town, even if said town is quite big. That’s just how it is.

3.) Talking about people behind their back is rude, yet sometimes you get mad at someone and, in anger, you don’t care if it’s fair or not. Or a person makes a statement that’s so dumb that you feel you can’t hold it inside and need to share it with another person. However, it’s a deadly combination to have two people on your mind while typing a message – one that has to hear the news as soon as possible, and the other who can never know. It’s very likely you’ll accidentally swap them. So the mocked will read the mockery and will surely not find it half as funny as you intended it to be.

4.) People are singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you. Where are you supposed to look? There are so many of them, should you just focus at one person and look them straight in the eye? Everyone else is staring at you as well, so perhaps they deserve some attention too. There are too many eyes and faces. The ceiling is interesting, or maybe the windows at the back, which is more logical to concentrate at? And what about your lips, are you supposed to smile? It looks dumb, maybe a half-smile would be better. The truth is, there are no right or wrong answers in this one. It’s always gonna be the most uncomfortable minute of your year.

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