Yeah that happens a lot. Eventually you just learn to laugh it off. Especially when it involves strangers.

I was shopping with my husband once in Costco ... It was pretty crowded and we had split up because I thought it would save us time. I got my item quickly (I hadn't gone too far from my husband) and went right back, put my item in the cart, then looked up while talking (hand still on item) to see a complete stranger looking at me in shock... I had not found my husband. I quickly grabbed my item it of the guy's cart, apologized, tried to explain that I had really poor vision, and ran off completely embarrassed. I found my actual husband, who had a good laugh about it ... Just glad it wasn't covid times.

Its these kinds of moments that remind me that I am still adjusting. I tend to not venture off by myself anymore in crowded places unless we set an obvious meeting point.

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Yeah, this type of thing happens, but I try to laugh it off.

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One good memory is myself and boyfriend at the time were out grocery shopping. He took off to grab whatever, and left me in the pasta aisle. I figured we needed more pasta, so grabbed about 5 bags of different bags and threw them in our grocery cart.

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A couple seconds later and I hear my BF whispering in my ear, "hey, that's not our cart". I guess there were a couple middle aged women standing there, perplexed as to why a random stranger was throwing pasta into their cart. Good times.

One time I was talking to the life size cardboard cut out woman advertising beer. I could make out that a “person” was standing there and started chatting. LMBO

Been there numerous times. And I even have some sight. My favorite story isn't quite about that, but it still holds weight. I work at a bank. One of my early jobs was to check on people in the waiting room to see what they needed/who they were here to see. One thing I do is sometimes hand out lollypops to the little children who come. This happened early in my time here. I asked a little girl if she'd like one and she said yes. So I brought the basket to her and said "Here you go, take any one you like." She didn't move to do so. I could sort of see her looking at me, but not her expression. Putting my hand into the basket I discovered not lollypops, but a couple of old card readers and some other supplies. The baskets were the same. I didn't even realize. I quickly made the switch. It was awkward. "Here you go little girl, have some banking equipment."

That was even more awkward than the time I put my arm around my wife's waist from behind ... and it wasn't my wife. Luckily I knew her and we all had a laugh over it.

It may seem funny in time, but I understand how hard that must feel.

My husband and I were eating out one night at a local pizza bar. Our waiter took our drink orders and disappeared for like 20 minutes. We complained to each other for a moment, and I saw him at the bar and got up to go catch him. When I came back to the table, my husband (then boyfriend) was laughing with his hand over his face. Come to find out he had just said without looking to my empty chair, "He's never going to come back he's talking to some pretty girl at the bar."

But there have also been plenty of times in the last ten years when it has happened and wasn't funny at all...

I never met a lonely blind person. Maybe this is why!

I sometimes find myself talking to myself when whoever I was talking to walks away XD Pretty awkward. Back when I had more vision (was still low vision) I remember walking up to a guy at the supermarket who I thought was my dad...turns out it wasn’t.

May God bless you.

It’s even funnier when you try to talk to a person who’s walked away. Because you are totally blind you don’t know this so you’re literally speaking to a wall. You get frustrated because they dont respond and are clearly not listening to you and not giving you any such feedback. Then you realize they are not there and then get irritated that they even walked away. Or started to talk to someone else.

I know where you are coming from. My biggest frustration is when I am talking to people and they leave without telling me. I am then just left talking to no one.

A situation that I still find so uncomfortable is when I need to identify someone for whatever reason. For example, once a work colleague was on the phone and asked me "Please, would you mind asking Nikola to come here?". Nikola was having lunch with some three of four people and I got to the kitchen table and asked "Hey folks, have you seen Nikola?" We learn to laugh it out but... the thing is, even if I suspect Nikola is there, maybe becasue of his body shape or whatever, unless he speaks in which case I will recognize his voice, I am never sure it is him or not. So, what is painful is that before asking you already know he might be there and you may be setting yourself up for that kind of situation...

Been there. Worst is when you’re with someone in a public setting and they get up or move and they may as well have blinked out of existence. I still struggle with that and the almost sense of being betrayed or abandoned or forgotten about. Especially the dismissive attitude around “I was right here, it’s no big deal.”

Yes I live in a constant state of fear. I'm always wondering if there's a burglar in my house, a poisonous spider on my wall or if there are fire hazards laying around