Is there anything more awkward than this?

[Reddini]

Food shopping. Bump into someone you know, or someone you knew. Have a long chat with them, discuss the DC, the house, holiday in the Summer, close relatives. Say it was lovely to see them and you really must catch up for that 3 year overdue coffee. Send your best wishes to their family and off you go with your trolley.

THEN.......seeing them again around the shop moments later trying desperately to avoid eye contact.

" I can't just say hello really unless they do first - especially if they are with someone. Patient confidentiality. "

Really? Surely everyone goes to the pharmacy sometimes.
I was told a few years ago that a GP's nurse was allowed to say she'd seen a patient, just not what for. I suppose it would be different if someone worked in a specialist clinic.

Having a full blown conversation about you, what you're up to, your siblings, what they're up to and your parents and what they're up to with someone because it's a small town. They've known your parents for 20 years know your school teachers and probably half your friends but you have no idea who they are.
I always reported back to my mum with a description to discover who it was.

Happens to me all the time- I now dash to the far end and work the other way up the aisles.

I'm the master of this. If I see someone I don't want to talk to in the supermarket I make sure I go around behind them and only enter an aisle when I can see they've turned into the next one. I'm ok as long as I know exactly where they are. If they look like they might head back my way I quickly turn around or whip my phone out to answer a pretend important call .

Someone I recently met at the shops and had a chat with seemed to almost follow me around, I saw him three times after I said goodbye. Talk about awkward.

One worse than that op.

Exactly as you describe in your op. Yet towards the end of your chat your husband appears at your side. So you go 'Oh - this is my husband, David, I don't think you've met? David, this...this is...is...' with no fucking clue what their name is. Horrific, there's no getting out of it.

Ah, now I can do the forgotten name thing. You just have to bite the bullet and say “I’m so sorry, I’ve gone blank!” and it’s over. They tell you!

No one ever remembers you didn’t remember.

secretisland I say "this is my husband" but don't say his name. He then says it automatically and the person responds with their name and how they know me. Genius.

My kids are used to leaving a shop half way through the trip because of this. If I run into someone I vaguely know (i.e. not my best friend or my dad or someone) I have to leave the shop post-conversation because I can't risk running into them again.

I'm well aware I'm a complete oddball, but it's the 2nd most awkward thing, next to being in a toilet cubicle and someone going into the EXACT ONE NEXT TO YOU. Noooooooooooope.

In work if I have to use the toilet, I turn the handle in the cubicle next to me to red so that if someone comes in they might reconsider. I get stage fright in the toilet and can’t go if there is someone else in the room.

I have embarrassed myself so many times I can’t even condense it into one post.

Going through more than two doors in a row behind someone else.... They hold the first one for you, you say "thanks". They hold the second one for you, you say "thanks again". Next time...well, I tend to dawdle so that it doesn't keep happening!

Ah something similar happened today. Bumped into a lovely woman and her dog and had a quick chat and said hello to the pupper. Unfortunately the conversation got a bit awkward at the end as there’s only so much dog talk one can have and so long you can pet a random dog for! So I said bye, have a nice outing etc. Then we kept coming across each other for about 10 minutes as we were walking the same way!

jammiebammie that properly made me laugh!

Very British problems, these

The "meeting in aisle one" thing has happened to me several times, and been excrutiating each time, but my favourite was with a very old friend that I hadnt seen in years and he said "Shall we do the rest of our shopping pretending we dont know each other?"

I have never had cause to use it since, but when it happens again I will say just that to the other person!