A bit awks 😬

[Sundancer77]

So, I’m a teacher (currently not teaching at a school etc) but I do private tutoring. I’ve been tutoring a girl once a week for around a year and a half at her house nearby.
Mum and me get on well, I wouldn’t say we’re ‘Friends’ friends, if that makes sense, but friends on Fb, have lots of mutual friends, she bought my baby gifts and kindly passes stuff on to me that her Dd has finished with.
Anyway, at the weekend, I was at the beach with dp and it got very windy so started to pack up and I walked up to the car, in the distance I noticed a small group looking over, it took me a while to notice (I was a distance away) then I clicked it was this Mum, was about to say hi (well, wave etc) but noticed she kind of looked away, or I did, I’m not sure..but it seemed to become one of those situations where you pretend not to notice one another? She’s very sociable and hasn’t met my baby yet, so I would’ve been happy to go and say hi.
I headed to the car (the turn off was quite a bit before them)
When I got in the car I felt a bit weird about it..like ‘Did she ignore me?’
Today was tutoring, so I went as normal and felt a little awkward, but she wasn’t there and husband let me in and she didn’t come back whilst I was there (is normally always there)
Sounds a silly situation and dp has just looked at me as if I’ve got two heads when I explained it’s made me feel awkward/a bit hurt?
I’m wondering if she didn’t want to see me or thought I didn’t? But either way, we definitely saw each other and its become awkward 🤷‍♀️😬

What is worse, to my mind, is running up to someone, getting their attention to say hi... and then realising you don’t know them after all. Far safer, perhaps, to pretend you don’t know anyone.

Yes I am quite bad with faces too, especially at a distance. If someone is in a car there is virtually no chance. I tend to just smile and wave, smile and wave now. This does mean that I sometimes get weird looks from strangers but at least I don't offend my friends, that is when I actually see them at all.

I think the older guy was talking to her about something very personal and when she saw you she didn’t want to ignore him whilst he was pouring out his heart so ignored you.

Now she feels terrible for ignoring you so is hiding in the cafe round the corner.

It’s the only obvious explanation

I mean maybe she did deliberately ignore you because she’s picked up on the fact that you’re clearly a crazy person only half joking

More likely she was engrossed in conversation and ‘looking without seeing’/ needs glasses/ didn’t think you’d seen her/ the wind blew something in her eye/ was in a rush to get home and didn’t want to stop and chat to anyone... etc etc....

I don't think there's a particular problem. Most likely, she happened to be very preoccupied at the time with something that she had to deal with -that would also explain her not being at home at the usual time. She could also be rather poor at visual recognition of people out of context (I am, and have sometimes had rather embarrassing situations as a result). It's also possible that she doesn't want other parents to know that her daughter is getting tutoring, especially if it is because she is struggling with some topics at school. In any case, I doubt very much that it's anything personal to you!

It does sound as if she's avoiding you by going out. Just be your normal self when you do see her.

But OP you said you aren't sure whether it was her who looked away or you! I'm laughing because that's something that could happen to me. Actually it has and I felt it was awkward, so I said "Btw I think I saw you at x the other day, I was in a hurry though so I couldnt stop and say hello". I felt that was a good explanation.

I never recognise anyone, I'm sure I've looked through or looked away from so many people. My good friends and family know this and understand but a casual acquaintance would assume that I'm a rude bitch. I hate it but I honestly can't help it.

I struggle to recognise people's faces, sometimes even those I know well, particularly if I see them outside of the context in which I would normally see them. I'm sure I've inadvertently offended people by "ignoring" them in the past.

Perhaps she's the same?

@Butteredghost 😂 That was my plan, I’m not sure who ignored who, but also feel awful if it was in fact me and she’s like ‘Wow, what a bitch’ 🤷‍♀️
@NameChange92, I agree I am an over thinker, but a crazy person? That’s going a bit far, we’re all different and in these troupes of situations, I definitely ivertting 😬Not sure why really..

*Types of situations
*Definitely overthink

Omg I have really bad eyesight and I always feel really stressed when I read these things as it could so easily be something I do - accidently ignore someone because I can't see them