personal space

Ok, we all know I'm a hugger. I am a tactile person. I don't have too many issues with people entering my personal space. I'm pretty casual about that. But sometimes, it's just a little annoying.

Here's the situation: I was at the post office yesterday, waiting in line. There were two people working and the line wasn't moving very quickly. I hung out at the front of the line for a while waiting for one of the two windows to open up. The person behind me kept crowding me, kept bumping their packages into my back. I could feel this person so close behind me that I felt I might feel their breath on the back of my neck at any moment.

I inched forward a little but I didn't really have anywhere to go and it wasn't as if the place was so crowded that this person was being pushed forward. There were maybe 4 or 5 people in line, a fairly normal mid-day "rush" but not crazy busy.

I inched forward again and really had nowhere else to go but this person bumped into me again. So, I had a choice to make. I could either ignore it, or turn around and say something. If I chose to turn around and say something, I had to decide whether I would be annoyed and angry or happy and smiley. My instinct was to be mad and say something rude but I know that I always get better results in confrontations when I smile and stay pleasant.

I plastered a big smile on my face and turned. All I had time to say was "excuse me, am I in your way?" before I registered that I was speaking to a very old man, a priest nonetheless. I don't think he even heard me. I was just thankful that when I turned back around, one of the windows was open and I got to move away from him. But it did annoy me for the rest of the day.

I think I might have a bruise on my back from the corner of his packages that kept banging into me. Hrmph.