Awkward Greetings

In the office last week, some guy came in and nearly broke every bone in my hand with his overly aggressive hand shake. It was crazy. After The Squeeze, he proceeded with a 30 minute monologue about something I couldn't quite follow.

I always feel impossibly awkward about interrupting someone. It's rude not to listen. And Gropius really does love talking to and meeting new people. But when I don't know the purpose of the visit and it's sooo unapparent what I can do to help, it's awkward.

Another awkward greeting situation: someone approaches you, calling you by name when you have no idea who the person is. This has occurred a number of times, usually followed by a friend or co-worker approaching. Then I must introduce the person to them and it's pretty hard to play off the identification failure gracefully.

This weekend at the Farmer's Market, I ran into someone who had been an utter and complete turd to me in the past. I forgive and move on, but it doesn't mean I want to run into a turd-from-the-past at the Farmer's Market. After he made a big deal about calling me over, with as much politeness and enthusiasm as I could muster I exchanged a greeting. Then...silence. Literally there was no small talk that would come to the brain. It was a strange sort of face off.

What are your awkward greeting scenarios?