The Hallway of Awkwardness

In our building, you have to walk about a 1/4 of a mile to the bathroom... not really, but it can seem that way. To get to the bathroom, you have to exit our office and walk down a really long straight hallway. We share our building with about 600 other state employees, most of which are obviously complete strangers. Herein comes the hallway of awkwardness! As you are making your trek to the bathroom, you see someone at the other end of the hallway (40-80 yards away). The dilemma is this: Do I smile and acknowledge them now or do I wait until they are closer to me. If I acknowledge them now, then I have to look away for the remaining 30-70 yards and as I actually pass them act like I am looking at the nice name plate on the wall... If I wait to acknowledge them until they are passing, then I have ignore them for 30-70 yards until that exact moment of passing... it creates a very awkward walk down the hall.

The science of it is deciphering when they are going to acknowledge you...

Regardless of the awkwardness, it makes walking to the bathroom quite the adventure.