Overly friendly

I might be an overly friendly person. I often wave at people before realizing that I have no clue who they are. And they don’t know me either. Once a woman even approached me and asked me who I was and why I waved at her. I had to confess that I did it by mistake. It hasn’t stopped me from repeating my mistake though.

The other day I saw a man in a window of the café to which I was going to pick-up my morning coffee. From the other side of the street, I waved overly friendly to him. I was certain that he was my son’s best friend’s dad.

He wasn’t.

That I realized while I had my hand up high, waving, and my body language shouted “Hey, how are you doing! Life is great!”

The man hesitated. Then he reluctantly waved back, his body language saying “I have no blinking clue who you are, but you seem friendly, and who knows, maybe I do know you, so I better wave back…”

I wanted my coffee dearly so I took a deep breath and walked into the café, nodded friendly to the man at the window and ordered my coffee. I didn’t know what to do. I must admit that I was somewhat embarrassed. While standing there, waiting for my coffee with my back to him, I thought of various options for my next step. What is the best way to get out of this without giving my mistake away?

My coffee was ready. I took it. Threw him a quick look, said cheerily “Ciao!” and walked out of the café.

If someone would wave at me, and I wouldn’t know who they were – I probably would react exactly like the man in the window of the café. I would happily wave back and think “This is a great village, with overly friendly people. They even greet you as if you were their best friend they haven't seen in ages, even though they have no clue who you are!”.

There are some mistakes that we don't need to learn from!