Why do some people ignore people they know when they see them in a store?

A person from school ignores people that he knows or have seen from school at a store. My friend tells me he does this all the time and not just to people from school, people that he knows from somewhere else as well. Just what could be the reason for a person ignoring/trying to hide from friends (also people the person have seen) as soon as they see them in a store?
Extreme shyness?



[edit on 29-10-2009 by sphinx551]

[edit on 29-10-2009 by sphinx551]

reply to post by sphinx551


Some of us our either ...

1. Busy
2. Have not seen them in a long, long time and do not feel like shareing the last 15 years of our life story.

P.S. I know it's rude but i also have no interest to here there's, or else i would have called and asked.
My 2 cents.

reply to post by sphinx551


I'm a girl, and on the rare occasion that I go to the store with no makeup and without my hair fixed (which is when you will ALWAYS see about a million people you know!) I wont go up and talk, although I'm a very friendly and talkative person. I just hate for people to see me looking like crap, lol.

this is the sort of person that would probably rather not know anyone at all.

if the response becomes too powerful, this person will find themselves unable to even leave the house.

it is a form of performance anxiety with bipolar tendancies.... a little piece of 'crazy' that i happen to be familiar with.

I dont think it is psychological to be honest is that we have neither the time or interest to speak. I am normally in a shop at the end of the working day, am tired and am looking for a good bottle or wine and ideas for something to cook for dinner, if I meet a family member then I will talk but if it is a distant person I recognise then I will take a detour. Dont need to over think this

When my friend sees a person he knows/or have seen in a store or some other place, he immediately walks in another direction or hides as soon as possible unless the person has seen him and started to talk first.

[edit on 29-10-2009 by sphinx551]

I do this sometimes when I have forgotten the persons name, even though I should know it, and I want to avoid an awkward situation of asking for someone's name when I have had classes with them for 6 years.

Then again if I want to talk to them I will usually say something like "Hey, man its been ages how ya been?".

Otherwise yeah maybe some people are just not completely aware of their surroundings when they are doing some daily tasks, minds in higher places while their body is on automatic. Shyness is probably the most likely or they have spent so much time with the person that they are sick of them. Maybe he wasn't treated well in school and anyone he sees from their reminds him of his experiences there, but you say its not just school so I don't know about that one. Maybe he's been going through some stuff recently and is trying to get himself straight before interacting with people again.

Everybody is different there are heaps of possibilities of why he doesn't want to talk.

Everytime I go out I see people I know because of my job. If I said hi to all these people and talked to them I would never get anything done. So some people just dont have the time to say hi to everyone they see out. Usually I just want to get my stuff done and move on.

If someone ignored me, I would ignore them eternally unless they apologized or offered a good reason.

This one guy was ignoring me in the halls of the building where I work, after I would smile and say "Hello Bob", so one day I said "Fine, that is the last time I say Hello to you." So after ignoring him for awhile he sarted saying"Hello Cindy" he did not like the same treatment he had been giving me.

So either they are rude and arrogant

Shy

Have performance anxiety like the above poster mentioned

or they can't stand the person.

I will try and hide from or avoid an annoying or needy person.

I would rather not talk to people i went ot school with.

Enough said, i think i said it all elsewhere.

I do it because just because I know someone in passing doesn't mean I have any interest in getting to know them better or have a desire to have a meaningless social interaction with them. Ill often nod or wave but ill only go over and talk to you if i really like you, and i will almost never stop what im doing to engage a person I know on the street.

For me, it's because I hate small talk.

"How are you?"

"I'm doing well, and you?"

"I'm doing pretty good to. What have you been up to?"

"Not much. Working, hanging out. You know. You?"

"Same here. I have a kid now."

"Oh really! That's crazy! How old? Boy or girl?'

"A girl, she's 4 now. You have any kids?"

"No, not yet. Where do you work?"

"At a CPA firm. You?"

"At Micron"

"Oh, that's cool."

**Cue the awkwardness**

"Well, it's good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too".

And then, depending on the conversation, some people might politely exchange numbers knowing full well neither party plans on calling the other.

Well, this is how it plays out in my head in a flash, so then I just try to avoid it all together. There have been rare occasions where I was extremely happy to see someone and we wound up talking for awhile.

It's because the guy who is hiding from others in the store is doing so because it's not the environment that HE is used to having them see him, so he feels uncomfortable. School is the "home turf" when seeing all involved and so when he sees them in the store, it's no longer the "home turf," but a new turf, an alien turf (a plug for all the alien lovers out there).

It's common actually through all stages of life --classmates, co-workers, etc.

Maybe it's religion...

Someone once explained to me the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist:
Methodists will acknowledge each other in the liquor store.

There could be a multitude of reasons why that person avoids social interaction in a store. Maybe he’s not a fan of the stop-and-chat. He could be fighting an illness, or grieving. Perhaps he wants just to run his errands inconspicously, enjoy a little solitude, and be on his way. It’s also possible that he just doesn’t give a #.

Imagine having to catch up with every single person you’ve ever come into contact with every time you saw them. If you’re not a people-person to begin with, socializing can be draining.

Having worked in the customer service sector for over a decade, the last thing I want to do is interact with any more people than absolutely necessary. I don’t care if you’re an acquaintance, family, friend, or foe, I’d rather avoid driveling chitchat at all costs.

saying people (everyone) is kind of narrow...

Meeting people out of the appropriate context, nodding may be enough and usually too much... They just don't belong there.

Originally posted by platipus
saying people (everyone) is kind of narrow...

Thread title fixed.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with the person you see, it has to do with whether you are in the mood to talk to anybody. I do that. But if they see me, and come up to me, I'll be friendly. But, I live in a town now, that I hardly know anyone, I love it! I can just shop and smile at people and go on.

Or, like I've seen on other comments, just want to shop, get out of there, and go home, just git-er-dun.

Or, maybe not shy around a bunch of people, but shy just alone with one person, you never know.

And like someone else said. "Well, didn't put on make-up today so I'll just ignore everyone", (but that is definitely calling up murphy's law! :lol You will see everyone you know!

Then, there are the smart-asses that are just rude and don't like you and don't want to talk to you. Their problem not yours is the way I look at it.

So, everyone is different. Some people are so engrossed in shopping that they pay no attention to anyone, I've seen that one too.. I've scared the you know what out of them. HA. Human nature, what would us humans be without it.

Originally posted by anotherdad
reply to post by sphinx551

 

2. Have not seen them in a long, long time and do not feel like shareing the last 15 years of our life story.

This is why I do it.

If you haven't seen this person in awhile, it would be awkward to say just a simple hello. Nope, you have to get at least 4 or 5 questions asked and answered before you can say goodbye.

That is just a beating.



So if I can avoid the fact that I noticed someone whom I knew in he past,... By all means I'm doing it.