I just faked enthusiam for seeing someone I disliked at the grocery store...

Yes. There's a girl that I knew in high school who has 2 kids. 1 of those kids is the daughter of my ex boyfriend, who I consider a friend. The thing that bothers me is that she married someone who is not good to the kids. He's been abusive to my friends daughter at the very least. Whenever I've seen her at the grocery store, I fake enthusiasm, just so I can spend a few minutes talking to my friends daughter.

Same for me. Since they appear nice, maybe I should too. So I just got to faked it. However, deep in my heart, I will still dislike that person cos of the bad experience. Regards, Adrienne http://www.e-marketinghub.com http://www.e-marketing-systems.com

Yes, I have run into people that I did not like before and pretended to be friendly with them as well. In my mind I would keep hoping that they would not see me or that they would just go away. I first would try to avoid them and not make eye contact but if they came over and said something I would say hello and try and keep the conversation short.

I have probably done this many times, but I don't really remember it. I often encounter people I knew from high school, or people I've worked with. I don't enthuse greatly, more like make polite conversation. In your case, maybe this person feels badly and is trying to sort of 'gloss over' the bad times in your relationship.

I can see where you are coming from on here. I get this feeling that a friendship I had just die will come up again someday, but this is not someone I need to see. I can see being polite so things are not dramatic and wanting to get out of there.

I do this all the time. I do feel very bad afterward and wonder if I'm just a mean person. Sometimes I imagine how I would feel if that person were to die suddenly, and I spent my last time with them pretending I wasn't talking to them. On one hand I don't think you should fake being nice to people, if you don't like them just avoid them but on the other hand, you don't know how important you might be to that person. It doesn't hurt to fake enthusiasm, it could just make their day.

I'm very choosy when it comes to friends so there are many people that I don't like and try to avoid as much as possible. But in a situation like that I would just be quiet. I find it hard to fake enthusiasm. I would rather let them know that I don't like them by not talking to them.

I've been in the same situation and done the same thing. I typically don't hold grudges for things in the distant past, and even if I did, I can stand to fake niceness for five minutes before moving on.

Everytime I go back to the small town I lived most of my life in I see former classmates or acquaintances, that I don't really have anything to say to. We were just never close, and I hate when people act insincere to me, pretending we were closer than we really are. A passing 'hello' or 'hey' is fine by me, but it always seems I get stopped by someone in the mall who wants to hear everything I've been up to the past 6 years or just to tell me how WONDERFUL their life is now and I make pseudo small talk with them for a minute or two, pretending I'm in a hurry to get somewhere or see someone. The worst was a girl I didn't even remember well. I couldn't even tell you her last name, just that I remembered her through periphery as being a volleyball player and she was never the type of person I would have hung out with. She practically pounced on me, gives me this big hug and starts blabbering on about how it's been years. Yes, space cadet, it has. I left 6 years ago and only come back for Christmas, Thanksgiving and my mom's birthday and don't leave their farm for the weekend. I finally just started staring over her left shoulder while she talked, pretending I was letting someone behind her know I was coming just so I could make a getaway. I find pretending to be in a big hurry works well.

i happend to have a neigbor i totally despised because of what they did to my father, whenever i see them, just passing by, or in a mall or grocery, which happend a lot, i just pretend i didn't see them, and if it can't be help, a smile, and a little nod won't hurt me, but that's all i can give. i cannot pretend and talk to them as if everything is ok!