I had a friend who used to pretend to wave at strangers just to get them to wave back, and the moment they did he would change what he was doing to make it look like he was just gesturing to adjust the sun visor in his car, or point to something in the distance. I found this to be unusually cruel.

I did that the other day. I was cutting through the costume shop (because it has doors on both Broadway and 4th Ave), and one of the salespeople was hugging someone. I heard "How are you doing, sweetheart?" So I said, Fine, thanks. But her response to that let me know that she wasn't talking to me- she was talking to the person she was hugging. Eeeee. Kept on walking.

Ahh BP, what I do in those situations is pretend I'm waving to someone behind them.

Heh, now that I think of it, my oldest brother and I were wandering around Chinatown in San Francisco, and there was a plethora of tourists with video cameras. Whenever there was a camera pointed in our direction we waved enthusiastically. I wondered if people would ask who those two guys waving were when the videos were shown, or if we just got edited out.

*waves at BP*

You're so friendly, is all.

The worst one I think is running up to someone from behind or whatever and calling their name - and then they turn around and there you are all smiling and panting after having caught up to your long lost friend on the street - and it isn't them at all.

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I've had the same thing happen. So many times!

The other day it was in reverse. I was waving to my friend on the sidewalk. The mean old bullfaced crossing guard thought I was waving at her. She smiled and waved back. Now I wave to her everyday.

Damn, low blow, rainbaby!! :D

That's awesome, Lori. Something good can come of it, I guess!

eekacat, we were all in a hallway and there couldn't have been anyone behind the waving guy. I'll remember that tactic if it ever happens again, though (and I'm sure it will!).

The worst one I think is running up to someone from behind or whatever and calling their name - and then they turn around and there you are all smiling and panting after having caught up to your long lost friend on the street - and it isn't them at all.

There is a guy living in Astoria who looks just like a friend of mine. I went up and started TALKING TO HIM like he was my friend, and he was just like, uh, what. It was pretty embarrassing. Now, whenever I see him on the subway platform, I hide.

I tend to wave at random people anyway, if I'm in the mood. Keeps 'em guessing.

Oh yeah, been there, done that - it's sooooo embarrassing.

TPS, I ran into a guy a few weeks ago who looked JUST LIKE my next-door neighbor. And, he was even wearing a Florida Gators baseball cap, and my neighbor is all about the Gators paraphernalia. I almost did the exact same thing you did- in fact I had to sit (we were at a restaurant) for several minutes and REALLY study this until I convinced myself it wasn't my neighbor. Could have been his twin.

My grandma once had this problem with her car where her horn would just start blaring for 20 seconds or so. It was really embarrassing for her. It happened one day while she was driving. There was a man on the sidewalk who was quite startled by the horn. She waved and pretended to know him and kept driving. (But she was really mortified.)

Once, when I was about 11, I was in a lake in British Columbia, without my glasses of course, when I saw my sister walk down to the beach. So, I yelled to her. She looked like she thought the lake was too cold, so I verbally abused her as only a younger brother can. Then I gave up and exited the lake, only to discover, OF COURSE, that the person who looked like my sister to me, without my glasses on, was not OF COURSE, my sister. I apologized profusely and quickly and ran away.

The worst one I think is running up to someone from behind or whatever and calling their name - and then they turn around and there you are all smiling and panting after having caught up to your long lost friend on the street - and it isn't them at all.

Actually, the worst one is when you see someone you know bellied up to the bar, so you sneak up behind him and huskily whisper "hey sweetcheeks" and goose him good as a funny joke and then he turns around and you realize it isn't him at all.

I think most guys wouldn't mind be goosed and called "sweetcheeks" by a cute girl, Specklet.

Now, how many young women would like to be verbally berated by a near blind 11 year old in a lake?

Hmmm?

I do all this stuff all the time, and shrug it off as just me being a big goonybird.

Well, except for "hey, sweetcheeks." That I do only once in a while.

Last week, I came dangerously close to planting one on a guy who works with my partner; he's the same height and was wearing a similar shirt, so when he quietly walked up behind me in the shop, I assumed... well. Y'know.

My (very proper, rather bashful) father's best story like this: at a faculty luncheon, he spotted my mother in a quiet corner, bent over tidying up. He stealthily came up behind her, cupped her ass in his hand, and --- upon feeling the unfamiliar shape of her buttock --- suddenly burst out, "Oh! You're not Susan!"

He had grabbed the butt of some other faculty member's wife.

Oops.

and the moment they did he would change what he was doing to make it look like he was just gesturing to adjust the sun visor in his car, or point to something in the distance. I found this to be unusually cruel.

I find this to be unusually awesome.

One day I'm walking the dogs through the neighborhood and I hear a guy say, "Hi Maggie." So I say hi back to him even though I didn't know him. I then realize he was walking up his front walkway and he was talking to his dog named Maggie. I immediately started laughing my ass off and explained to him that my name was Maggie.

you know what's worse? when a cute girl smiles at you at you walk away all ego-buzzed, then a half a block away, you realize that your fly is open.

Then there's that thing - it usually happens in stores - where you are strolling/browsing around with your friend or partner, and one of you drifts behind to look at something, while the other keeps going, unaware, and ends up talking to the stranger who happens wander into the space the friend would be occupying had they not dropped back. This is one of the universal human experiences, and one way to determine if you're an alien: if it hasn't happened to you, you're probably an extraterrestrial.

Sometimes you talk to the bear, sometimes the bear talks to you.

Oh, MAN! Day before yesterday, I'm on my walk home from work, and I see her, the ex who lives in my general neighborhood, approaching, a good 50 yards off. I've run into her before, and it's no big deal, but usually a bit awkward. I mean, it's been, what, 8 years now? Still, though, what does one say in that situation?

So I'm crossing the street, and she's crossing the street, and she gets this big smile on her face, and she waves, and I'm thinking, "Hey, you know, we could be friends, you know? I mean, we were lovers once, and we had a lot in common, it just didn't work out, you know? Maybe enough time has passed, and..."

And just as I start to wave back, I realize she's waving at someone else. But I keep waving. See, that's how I roll. And she says, as I pass her, while she's talking to that other person, she says, "Hi Mike."

So, um, I'm not sure what my point is. But, yeah, been there.

This past week I've replied to several people who in fact, were having conversations on their well hidden ear-cellphone-pieces. "Hi how are you?" -"I'm just fine thanks, you?" and so on. I HATE THAT!