Thinking about this "interaction" is making me anxious...

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Hi everyone. This is my first post!

To me it's kinda dificult to take part of the usual ritual of saying hi and hello when arriving at work, mainly cause I get nervous, can't control the volume of my voice etc. So I just try to walk looking down avoiding eye contact... is that or unintentionally staring at people as they walk towards my direction in the halls, waiting to make eye contact and say hi. Thats not ok so I prefer to keep my eyes on the phone or floor.

Well, I don't know if I messed up during this social interaction and is making me really anxious.

So, I'm at work, walking towards the time clock and there were two ladies talking. One I dont know, the other is visiting and we know about each other through other people. They are sitting on a couch as I walk pass them, the one I dont know is talking and the one I know is listening, she sees me coming and says "hey how are you?" In a playfull tone, while the other kept talking.

In a split second I hd to decide wheter I say hi or just smile and kept on walking cause the lady I dont know (sitting with her back at me) kept talking while the other said hi.

Here I come.

I freaked a little on the inside and blurted a almost whispered "fine and you?" And while I kept walking in a little louder tone of voice I said "Good evening"... not to leave out the other one or whateverm trying to be polite I guess I came accross a bit rude, cause the one talking made a pause looked at me with out answering and then kept talking.

I wanted to click my heels and disppear. Or am I just reading too much into it and SHE was the rude one for not answering? I dont know...

Sounds to me like to you did just fine... the girl you know (I'll call her "friend") said hi to you and that warrants a response, which you gave her. I think just saying hi in passing like what you did was perfectly acceptable, but I think it would have also been apropriate to stop to chat. The girl she was talking to ("stranger") is expected to adapt to the new conversation, either by taking part in it or just by waiting. Then you actually went out of your way to be courteous to "stranger". "Stranger" definitely should have stopped talking when "friend" said hi to you and also should have acknowledged you just as "friend" did.

"Stranger" sounds either really rude and self-absorbed, or just aloof and poor social skills. Either way, It sounds like YOUR social impulses are accurate and I think you should keep following your instincts!