h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not a bad person but when faced with a clipboard and having made eye contact I tend to give them a tight smile to say "I can see you, I can't be bothered with you, but I don't want to seem rude" then look away and walk on. Even if they've said something to me. Unless they actually chase me down the street (never happened!) they know they'll get nothing more out of me.

Great article - made my work colleagues wonder what I was up to with all the grinning I was doing reading it!

Deb

There are so many around my work now that I have instinctively perfected the complete ignore as described in the article. You feel like an absolute a**hole the first time you do this, but the sense of relief of not having your time wasted is so great, you soon get over it!

Ignoring them works well enough when the situation allows you to walk away from them. But if they approach you while you're standing around waiting for something/someone, they have you at a disadvantage. Few people have the intestinal fortitude to rudely snub someone without an available escape route. My preferred tactic in this situation is to feign an illness and cough on them. It immediately puts them on the defensive and there are endless options for things you can say to press your advantage, such as, "Sorry, I've just returned from a trip to Beijing and I can't seem to shake this cough...." Sometimes I employ this tactic just to amuse myself even when I *can* simply ignore them and walk away.

If ignoring doesn't work, I tell them 'other day/ just now I spoke to your colleague!' generally it works!