I have been reading some of Mystery's stuff where he talks about people judging you based on who you are seen with. The issue for me is that I live in the same area I grew up in. Even if I go out shopping I can end up meeting parents of my old school friends or some of my dad's drinking buddies who want to stop and talk, or walk with me. Some of these people look on the dishevelled side and sound quite loud when talking in public.

Is it wrong to avoid being seen with these people so that you are not judged as being in that social circle? There is a balance for me to find as I don't want to be too shallow and also want to be generally sociable, and there are people I would not want to avoid; but at the same time I can think of girls I would not want to see me with people like this in case it automatically effects their judgement of me.

Is Mystery right in his assessment of female psychology or if you let a woman judge you based on who she sees you with are you just validating her shallowness and fearing her judgement of you? It just seems to me that if I think like Mystery I will always be going around worried about what people think, not just of me, but of who I happen to meet and talk to in the street.

I grew up in a similar situation. Very small town. In my experience (as in, may not apply to yours but probably will), girls like being with a guy who is well known, regardless of the quality of the people that know him. If you run into people that you know, be polite, quick chat, and then excuse yourself. She'll see that you are able to handle yourself in that situation. As long as your behavior isn't unruly, their behavior will not lower your value. I once ran into the parent of an ex girlfriend while on a date. I was polite, and found that they talked me up in front of my new date. You may find the same. And I believe that you should never avoid a friend to impress a girl, because she may not be around tomorrow.

The key to what are you are asking is what nightwatchmen said
You do not have to avoid anybody instead maybe think of them as obstacles that you 1. Can never know when they will occur 2. Will deal with head on.

This allows you to be "mission oriented" as in you got shit to do but cant talk to them, which these people you are trying to avoid will respect. Example: You're with a girl and you see one of your dads drinking buddies, you say "hi how you doing", dont hide from them, but keep the conversation brief if there even is one by letting him/her know that you guys are on a deadline. After all you and your girl have things to do (even if its just spending time together) and this person happened to catch you in the middle of that. You were polite, paid your respects, and have to be on your way. Nothing wrong with that.

1. You cant help who knows you. The more the merrier anyways. 2. Think quality over quantity. Unless your girl, the drinking buddy, and you just happen to kick it off into a great convo, it doesnt have to be a very long talk. Its all about what you want it to be, but in order to do that you have to tackle it head on.

I think what mystery was saying is that if a girls first impression is of you with someone that is not "socially acceptable" or attractive then that could downplay you. I think hes talking about when you are going to game just make sure who you are with (if you are going with anybody). Hanging out with people is one thing to a girl, while knowing a lot of people and being popular and well known even with "uncool" people is another thing. It shows you are well versed in the social world.

I know one thing that is a big negative in this area is if the woman picks up you are avoiding someone. Avoiding is shifty behavior. Also if you avoid a friend because you are with a woman, then you are not being a good friend, and if the woman picks up on it then you won't gain with her either.

I take your points, but am just picking this as my point is that it is not quality. They are not my friends mostly, they are my dad's friends or relatives of my old school friends. I occasionally bump into old school friends which is fine and I would never want to avoid them, but some of my dad's drinking buddies are quality wrecks more than anything and look and sound like it.

I take the points you guys make and being generally sociable is something I want to aim for. The issue is that maybe you can help who you know if you are fussy enough in the first place (to some extent anyway), and somehow people might judge you based on who knows you. I am not saying they are right, I'm just thinking that mystery might have a point.

I guess this is partly a social anxiety thing too given the fact I am tall and always feel like people pay attention when I am talking to people who they might not expect to see me talking to. As an example I was talking to a woman who owns a shoe shop who had just had a bereavement. I was fully engaged with her, but it seemed like every person who walked past wanted to turn round and look at me to see why a short elderly woman and a tall young man were talking. It's absolutely pathetic but a few people did do a 180 with their heads to look back.

Im talking quality of YOU and YOUR social interactions. See how fast you can politly get these people away from you if you want to make it a game. There is no avoiding.