To ask if you have ever blanked someone to their face

[AllWeekendattheKitKatClub]

To ask: have you ever blanked anyone to their face when they've said hello to you and if so, why? AIBU to think that's rude in any circumstance?

A woman my DH used to know from a hobby did this to me after we walked past each other. I smiled and said hello to her but she just stared at me.

I haven’t done it but my husband, with very bad eyesight blanks people all the time. 😆 He honestly doesn’t see them even if he looks right at them. Could that be the case in your situation?

Yes, but unintentionally. Did it to my boss once in Pret. I sometimes (often if I am honest) have trouble recognising people out of context. I know it comes off as rude and probably a little hostile but I am genuinely just blanking on trying to place people and if they aren't stopping for a chat, just saying hi as they walk past, my brain does not always work fast enough for me to respond appropriately.

I did it this weekend by accident. I was talking to DH, then noticed someone walking past me smiling, but she had passed before I noticed. Now wonder if she thinks I’m incredibly rude and aloof?
I’ve never done it deliberately

We passed within arm's distance. She could be long-sighted I suppose but she did stare directly at my face. We were in the middle of a vast green space too.

A few times unintentionally - especially vague acquaintances like the wife of someone I used to know from a hobby

By the time my brain has processed that I know them and who they are they are long gone!

Yes, all the time - and sometimes to people I know very well. I don’t have a formal diagnosis but I think I have prosopognosia. I warn everyone new I meet that if ever I appear to be blanking them, I’m really not!

Yes. An utterly evil ex-colleague who tried her best to ruin my career out of her own petty pole-climbing desperation.

She said hi, I just stared at her in shock that she'd even try to talk to me. Then recovered just enough to throw a 'you can fuck off' over my shoulder as I moved past her.

I wish I'd said more actually. Maybe I'll get the chance another time!

I’ve even done it to my dc. I also have trouble with left and right, and have a terrible sense of direction. I’m sure it’s all connected somehow!

Interesting examples, but aren't these all examples of where the other person hasn't said hello to you? When someone says hello to me, I'll say hello back, whether I recognise them or not, so that makes me weird by the sounds of it

@TheUsualShitshow

Yes. An utterly evil ex-colleague who tried her best to ruin my career out of her own petty pole-climbing desperation.

She said hi, I just stared at her in shock that she'd even try to talk to me. Then recovered just enough to throw a 'you can fuck off' over my shoulder as I moved past her.

I wish I'd said more actually. Maybe I'll get the chance another time!

What did she do?!

This woman did look a bit shocked at me truth be told.

I've definitely had people say hello to be and I'll stare at them trying to place them, especially when we're just walking past each other (it's different if you are standing together in the same place) - once we've passed each other I'll realise, Oh that was the next door neighbour's cleaning lady or the woman that used to do teas and coffees at toddler group. My brain just takes a few extra seconds to process sometimes.

If there is no back story I’d assume she did not recognise you or her mind was elsewhere.

Yep. I see an Ex from a million years ago in the street sometimes and we both blank/pretend we don’t recognise each either 😂

I've done this when someone's done it to me first. I find it so rude but I'm not going to say hello to someone who won't even look at me. I notice this a lot with mums at my kid's school.

Yes, intentionally.

If I have nothing nice to say to someone then I'll say nothing at all.

Not knowingly or on purpose. But I do have a certain degree of face blindness and find it very hard to recognise people out of context. So when I approach someone in passing it is a nightmare - if they recognise me they might well interpret it as "DoorLion stared me full in the face then blanked me" but what tends to happen is I glance at them, think there is a possibility I might know them, glance a bit more to try to work it out, then if their body language and facial expression seems to be saying "I know you" I might give a small smile, and if they smile back a larger smile, and then say hello, if I haven't gone past them by then.

Of course if someone said hello to me I would say it back but I do also go along in a daze for a lot of the time so it might not register until I had gone past them.

I took my brother to A&E over Christmas and there was a lady from my yoga class and I did intentionally blank her.

She was clearly looking for me to say Hello first and if I’m honest I just couldn’t be bothered with small talk considering we were in A&E. She’s also really annoying in general

I do this all the time. I walk around in a cloud of thought and don’t see people. If they say «hi» I will notice them then but often too late to respond if they are just walking past.

@Brideandprejudice

Yes, intentionally.

If I have nothing nice to say to someone then I'll say nothing at all.

Why wouldn't you have anything nice to say to someone?

I’ll always say hello to someone if they appear to know me, even if I’ve not got a clue who they are. Not that it’s happened very often, I’m hardly a celebrity 😂 I just hate that awkward moment when you’re both trying to work out who the other is so I’d rather just brazen it out and move on ASAP.

Yes sometimes, not to people I know but to strangers who say "hello" if I'm walking in the country. I got the idea from This Country, there's a bit which cracked me up when Kerry and Kurtan are walking in the countryside, Kurtan says "good morning" to a stranger who is passing them, and then he gets annoyed when the stranger ignores him. I always have a smirk on my face afterwards lol.

I really hate small talk with people and hate being collared into a conversation when I barely know them. It makes me so unbelievably uncomfortable.

I have and will continue to pretend I can’t see people when out and about. If they say hello to me, I’ll never ignore them but I won’t start a conversation if I can help it.

Yes sometimes. I’m rubbish at recognising people of out context, and often in my own thoughts so miss those cues. I might also think that you aren’t talking to me. It isn’t deliberate in my case.
I often pass other parents on the school run who I see blanking or being blanked, even with a hello or good morning from the other person. I think people can be in their own worlds.

@AllWeekendattheKitKatClub waited until I was out of the country to go straight to the CEO and make up a load of old shit about a project I'd poured two years of my life into.

I do it all the time, unintentionally. If I'm not expecting to see someone, the chances are I won't recognise them - my DM is the same, she often used to pass me in the street without recognising me, and then say "Well all these girls look the same!".

At work they shout "Oi, Duchess!" when I blank them.