Awkward moments. You hear about them. You see them. You do them yourself. Here are some ways to lessen the pain of worst-case Kent State scenarios.

You walk into a packed class, and the only empty seat is right next to the guy or girl you had a one-night rendezvous with last weekend.

Realize he or she most likely feels just as awkward as you do. When you sit down, just give him or her a little wink and a small giggle to acknowledge the awkwardness. Get it over with as soon as you sit down, or else you’ll spend the whole class freaking out.

You spill coffee on a classmate you don’t know.

Apologize a couple times and mean it. If it’s on their clothes, there’s not much you can do. Maybe buy them some Tide to Go. If you spill your Jazzman’s coffee on their laptop or phone, you have two options: Run as fast as you can out of that class, or cough up the dough.

You have your iPod volume all the way up and you don’t notice a friend say hi until it’s too late.

Your friend probably feels super embarrassed because the people walking next to him think he’s a nerd with an imaginary friend. Just shoot them a text and say “Wow, sorry I’m an ass. I didn’t hear you say hey. Chipotle later?”

Contact

Kelsey Misbrener at [email protected].