One of the most fascinating of human interactions is the greeting. When two people see each other, the potential for awkwardness is almost limitless. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. That depends on a number of factors.
The way I see it, there are three important elements (or potential awkwardness pitfalls) to every encounter: body language, conversation, and departure. The tricky part is for a successful encounter, two people must be in-sync on body language and departure, but one-sided in conversation.
Body language. When you see you will encounter someone, a decision must be made. Should you raise your head? nod your head? raise your eyebrows? smile? high five? fist bump? handshake? hug? kiss on the cheek? turn the other way and run? pretend to be reveiving a text message to avoid eye contact all together? take your earphones out, or leave them in and just pause your music? The possibilities are endless. And when two people aren't on the same page, results can be disastrous. I don't know if you've ever witness a situation where one person goes in for the hug while the other goes for the handshake. Oh man. It was just bad.
The hug is like a game of tetris, only the bottom part would be shifting TOO. Who is gonna go low, and who is gonna go high? Or will it be the hybrid diagonal hug? These things are worked out telepathically in milliseconds as the hug is about to happen. I find the best situations are where someone takes charge from far away. They hold their arms out and high, declaring "this is a hug, and I'm goin high." However, this does not always happen.
Society can be blamed for a lot of the awkward greetings that happen. Handshakes are ok for meeting someone, and ok in the workplace, and ok between guys, but too formal for a guy and girl or just girls? Hugs - some guys do them some guys don't? The fistbump goes in and out of style so much that if it was the letter "L" I would never know whether to write Style or Stye. There's so much confusion about social norms that sometimes its just a flat out guess what to go with. But if you get it right, the encounter has potential for success...at least for now.
Conversation. In today's world we have access to virtually every media outlet there is. Not to mention the always entertaining stories of our own personal endeavors. And yet how is it that you can run out of things to say to someone in 15 seconds? Conversation is an important element because it ties directly to the third and final element - departure. Awkward conversation almost guarantees an awkward departure.
The most difficult conversations can be the "walking with" ones. You meet someone, and it is clear you are going the same direction. You have a wealth of conversation topics to bring up, but you don't want to get into something and then have to cut it off at a weird time. Solution: A casual "where you headed" not only opens up potential topics but also allows you to estimate how much time you might have. Knowing this is a key to successful conversation and departure.
Another type of conversation is the "passing by." Here, there is often only an issue where a stop-and-chat might be warranted. This is a big pitfall. One person stops and the other keeps walking = disaster. However, a smile and head raise, a quick greeting, and a over-the-shoulder "have a good one" can be an easy 1-2-3. Some people develop there's signature sayings. The La Fratta "Livin' the Dream" is a personal favorite.
Departure. The final step. As great as a greeting and conversation might be, an awkward departure can shoot you in the foot faster than Nate Kaeding. The trouble arises usually from one of two situations: 1) 1 person thinks the conversation is over, while the other does not, or 2) a disturbing conversation topic is brought up, and another one is not quickly addressed. If you can avoid these pitfalls, you should be able to get through most encounters without too much trouble.
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