Pure Awkward

I had a situation happen at work the other day. One of my co-workers told me that one of the managers, Dan, got a promotion. So, obviously when I next saw Dan, I congratulated him. But it ended up being the most awkward and messed up congratulations ever.

Here’s how it played out. I see Dan. I go up to him and say, “Hey Dan, I heard you got promoted. Congratulations. Nice job.” As I’m saying this, I am in the process of reaching out my hand, so I can shake his and solidify what I’m saying with a good solid action. However, Dan is all “Yeah, thanks, I’m really happy” but wants to solidify what he is saying with a big fat hug. Here’s where it gets awkward. We are both moving towards each other, offering up different motions of congratulations. I see he wants to hug it out, he sees I’m wanting to shake on it. We both jerk back suddenly, like we just got a cattle prod in the ass and I immediately try to change my offer from a handshake to a hug. At the exact same time, he too is trying to do a last second change from a hug to a handshake. It’s a total mess. We both do a bit of an awkward jig around with hands and arms and stuff and at this stage we are so embarrassed and so confused we don’t know whether to hug or shake.

Eventually I just say “ Wow, this is pure awkward. We can’t seem to figure out which gesture is most appropriate”. In the end we just decided to sake on it and I couldn't get my red face away from the situation fast enough. Totally messed that one nicely.