Greg Clarke Page 2 of 11

What to Say in Awkward Social Situations

It’s Thursday afternoon, your foils are setting, and your boss walks into the salon. You look like an extra from Star Wars―and it’s clear you slipped out early.

Although every instinct might tell you to hide your face in the nearest tabloid, don’t. “If you’ve been getting your work done to your boss’s satisfaction, leaving a little early one day shouldn’t be an issue,” says Barbara Pachter, the president of a communication-training company based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Instead, be brave and say a cheerful hello. “As a general rule, the person who makes the approach has the power, because she sets the tone of the interaction,” says Fitter Sloane. Tell her briefly why you left early. “Showing that you believe you owe her an explanation―for example, maybe an early appointment was the only way you could get your hair done and get dinner on the table for your family―sends an important message that you respect her as your superior,” says Laurie Puhn, an attorney and a mediator in New York City. Once you’ve come clean, go your separate ways.

Next: You enter the pediatrician’s waiting room with your sick child, and spot a parent with whom you’ve had issues (to say the least) at PTA meetings.

Skip to Daily Finds slides.

Illustration of a woman looking panicked

Illustration of a woman holding a sick child

Illustration of a woman holding a gift at a baby shower

Illustration of a woman in an elevator with a man wearing a suit

Illlustration of woman pouring gasoline in someone's face

Illustration of a woman at sporting event with former in-laws

Illustration of a woman at a restaurant lying on a dinner plate talking to her therapist

Illustration of a woman at the ATM looking mad at a man in a suit

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