How to Avoid a Person you dislike
It is but human to express emotions and feelings. Often you come across people you don’t easily come to like. It is best to avoid such people. However, that is not possible all the time. Often we are forced to meet such people every day — at the bus-stop, at our place of work, in the library or on the road. It is difficult to stop going to all these places, so what does one do? Here are a few simple tricks.
If you happen to see Mr. X, whom you really dislike, at the bus-stop, pretend you are absorbed in reading the numbers on the buses trundling past. After climbing into the bus of your choice, if you see — horror of horrors —Mr. X advancing in a determined manner towards you, put your head in your arms and close your eyes. He might disappear!
At your place of work, make sure you are terribly busy with your papers if you know who is in the vicinity. And, of course, your little black diary will be so full of engagements that you will never have time to meet him. Avoiding Mr. X in the library is easy. You can always pretend to be deeply involved in Boswell’s Life of Johnson or Roget’s Thesaurus!
The road is a different matter. There are two ploys which might work here. You could start counting the floors of the high-rise building in front of you, as if your life depended on it. Alternately you could fix your eyes on the scenery as if memorizing every detail of the blue sky, green trees, white clouds and whatever else happens to catch your fancy. The second ploy is to grab hold of a stranger passing by and begin an animated conversation with him.
If none of the above works and you come face to face with the persistent gentleman, and he insists on shaking hands with you all the while smiling that horrid smile of his, then I’m sorry, all I can do is wish you luck!
