You’re taking a class that you like well enough, the teacher is friendly and you sit next to the people you know. It’s all fun, but there’s one student in the room who tends to open their mouth more than you would like and your mind goes to a dark place and you start wishing for bad things to happen to this person. If you don’t know who that person is in your class, it is likely you. I like to think we’ve all been that person at some point or another. I’m pretty sure I was that person last week.
Let’s move on to a more personal example. I was in a car with a couple on a way to the beach. Now, a beach in the Tampa Bay area is never far off, but the guy wanted to go this “awesome” beach, a beach you had to pass other beaches to get to. The problem is the girl was driving her car and burning up a lot of gas. “We’re almost there” became a catchphrase during the second hour of driving. Tensions were building, frustrations were vocalized more and more often, but we finally made it, only to be greeted with more traffic and lack of parking with any and all open spots unfairly priced. Frustration built and exploded through yelling and then we decided to go home. We ended up going back to St. Petersburg to swim in the pool at the girlfriend’s apartment complex. I know I keep saying “we,” but in all honesty I think that was the longest I had gone without talking while awake. That whole time I just sat in the back seat like a child and watched mommy and daddy fight.
What do these two moments have in common? They were painfully uncomfortable to sit through, at the time, but now when I tell these stories, I’m usually laughing. I realized during another uncomfortable moment this week that there’s no point in cringing. It’s something I’m going to laugh about later, so why should I be uncomfortable while it’s happening? I enjoy cringe-worthy humor on television and in movies # I’d like to apply it to real life.
Let’s move onto my best example. Dealing with a co-worker who doesn’t like you and the awkwardness that comes with having to sit next to them in stone silence for several hours during your shift. Me typing this very column while sitting next to the person as they glare at me for giggling is also awkward. It’s weird when you’re around someone you don’t like so often. We normally avoid these people, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. I decided to sit back and examine this relationship from a distance, and I found something funny about it. I realized that this person dislikes me so much that during the less than four hours I have to spend with them, they can’t even feign decency. We get a lengthy seven-day period of not seeing each other, and yet this person holds the same vitriol as if we were around each other 24/7. I’ve heard of not liking people, but that’s just excessive. There are two sides to every story, but I honestly don’t know how it got to that point in a couple of months.
Perhaps not everyone is going to “get” the “joke.” Let’s look at this from an outsider’s perspective. Let’s observe an awkward interaction between two other people. I hope everyone reading this has observed the following situation: A former couple, two friends that are no longer on speaking terms or two people that hooked up once, and went on to regret it, go to the same party. Everyone in the room is painfully aware of the situation between them. Observe how far these two people go out of their way to avoid each other. Count the amount of times they make eye contact and quickly look away. Watch how another person at the party inevitably gets frustrated and decides to call both of them out for being so stubborn in front of everyone, and they still don’t talk to each other.
Don’t be uncomfortable and enjoy the awkwardness. Also, if you’re ever the person in that situation, lighten up, it’s funny.
Matt Thomas is a senior majoring in mass communications and entertainment critic. He can be reached at matthew17@mail.usf.edu or on Twitter @handsomestmatt
