Not snubbing, just shy and zoned out

A separate post, because it has nothing to do with what yesterday’s gathering was about, but:

I have learned that I may have inadvertently ignored someone during the schmoozing part of the celebration, in a manner that must have looked like a snub. I suspect I’ve done the same at other gatherings.

That was not my intention. I was either zoned out (which happens), hard of hearing (which is true), too intent on who I was listening to (which happens a lot), or otherwise just…well, not quite with it.

I’m a shy person [true–I frequently find it hard to mix at parties because I don’t want to intrude on conversations, for example]. I’m afraid that makes it easier to be a little withdrawn in social gatherings.

So if I ignored you, I’m sorry: It was definitely not intentional.

And, of course, I’ll try to do better in the future–but I’ll sometimes fail.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2005 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Not snubbing, just shy and zoned out”

  1. Simon says:
    December 13, 2005 at 4:02 am

    I can completely identify with this. I’m also somewhat hard of hearing, shy, and have a terrible memory for faces. Not a good combination at social events.

    I hope you’re not beating yourself up over this.

  2. walt says:
    December 13, 2005 at 10:32 am

    You just saw the extent of my beating myself up. (Hey, Sandy, if you’re reading, I’m sorry.)

    I have a decent memory for faces–“decent” reading as “slightly better than atrocious”–but no memory at all for names. So at ALA, I’m usually OK, as long as people are wearing badges. Unfortunately, there seem to be a few thousand people who recognize me, and “Hi, Walt” with “Hi” as a response is…well, we deal with it.