Little Dirty Guy

Have you ever done everything possible to avoid an unusual character that is uncomfortable to talk to?

No? Ok, so I'm just not a very nice person.

There is a guy at work. We, (or at least I) refer to him as "Little Dirty Guy." He is very short, is never clean shaven and ALWAYS looks like it has been a week since he bathed. He has about 4 teeth in his head and compounding that problem seems to have a speech impediment. LDG often stops by my office to talk to me about things. I'm not really ever exactly sure what he is saying, or why he needs to talk to me about it. However, these conversations are quite lengthy and my side amounts to many nods and "uh, huhs."

Encounters with LDG are so uncomfortable that I have resorted to hiding in my office with the door locked when I believe he might be looking for me. He has peeped through the mail slot in my office door to find me and I pretended to be talking on the phone. Right about now, you are probably marvelling at what a bad person I am, but it does get even worse.

Two times in the last month when I have taken the children to meet their dad in a neighboring small town, I have stopped at the grocery store there to take advantage of low prices. I have just intended these to be brief Friday afternoon stops to get a few things necessary for the upcoming weekend. Both trips have resulted in unexpected LDG spottings. The first time I finagled my way around the store in a manner to avoid any direct contact with him. Then when I was there this last Friday, I turned a corner to walk down a short aisle, and almost ran smack into LDG. He was talking on his cell phone. Crap, how had I managed to get myself in this situation? I am not proud of my next actions, but it shows my level of desperation. I looked at LDG, who happened to be looking down, I paused for a full second, then I turned my cart around in the opposite direction and hurried around the corner. From there I went and hid in the dog food aisle for a full 2 minutes before returning the the previous aisle.

Oh, I'm so ashamed of myself. But it doesn't end there... when I went to check out I saw him in one check-out with a short line and I quickly moved to a check out with several additional people in the line just to ensure avoidance.

Please tell me that I am not the only person who avoids these situations or pretends not to see someone who is clearly right in front of you. I know it's terrible and I feel bad. Next time I will just completely avoid that grocery store!