Awkward and Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Cut Off in Traffic

This isn't really awkward, but it sure is annoying. I can get pretty bad road rage and nothing drives me crazy like when a car abruptly cuts me off. This is especially annoying if they didn't even have the courtesy to signal. I'm not a big honker, except in emergencies or to alert someone, but I am a big fan of yelling and shaking my fist, or making eye contact and shaking my head at them in a disapproving manner. I had to censor what I'd normally be shouting since my niece and nephew like to look at my drawings.

But replace that annoying and rude driver with some pugs and the situation becomes so much better! Make way for puglings!

Sunny and Rosy love cutting me off all the time and I've ran into them or almost stumbled more times than I can count. But every time that happens I end up apologizing profusely to my pug and getting cuted out by her confusion and anxious tail wag (you'd think by now they would have figured out that cutting across my path leads to bad scary bumps, but no, each time they're mystified as to what happened).

[Random note: Every day I regret having gotten a black fabric interior car. I bought it before I got Sunny and Rosy, but if I could do it again I would have definitely gotten one with a light and/or leather interior!]

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Bumps in a Crowd

I've never been a big fan of large crowds and that's only gotten worse the older and crankier I get. There's nothing fun about being squashed among strangers as the air gets hotter and stuffier. And how disturbing is it when a stranger's sweaty body part makes contact with your back or arm?! Having lived in New York for several years I often had to put up with crazy crowds. Sometimes subway rides were so packed people couldn't hold onto any poles and so they just stood like sardines in a can and swayed with the crowd, hoping that collectively everyone could support each others weight at each jerk and turn. The only thing I could do in those situations was to put in my ear buds and go to my happy place.

But turn that into a pug crowd and you've just turned a nightmare into a dream come true! Even the word for a pug crowd is so much better and cuter - a grumble of pugs! I'd much rather be amidst a grumble of furry, squishy, snorting lil pugs.

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Small Talk

I am the worst when it comes to small talk! I am bad with eye contact, I can never think of interesting things to talk about, I bring up topics I really shouldn't, and I can't help but use idioms that I realize halfway through I don't really know. I am capable of having normal conversations with people once I know them better, but even then there are still some people that I just don't click with and as a result our conversations continue to be awkward and stilted. I dread holiday parties and work events.

But I have never met a pug that I didn't love and there is never any awkward conversation or weird lulls. It's either filled with happy talk or comfortable, content silence (although pugs are rarely silent).

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - The Long Hallway

Don't you just hate it when you see someone you know at the end of a long hallway or street? When do you acknowledge each other's presence? When do you say hi or wave? Should you pretend you have to stop and tie a shoelace or duck into another room? All these worries are wiped away if you replace the approaching casual acquaintance with cute lovey dovey pugs!

I am the queen of awkward social situations and am a big ol grump when it comes to having to deal with most people. So I think I'll embrace the humor of my flaws and do a series on my blog (in addition to Pugling Rivalry) called "Awkward and Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs." This is the first installment, "The Long Hallway." This is something near and dear to me as I encounter this situation everyday because my workplace consists of a super duper long hallway and I work at one end of it.