Awkward Silences

I am taking a Project Integration and Risk Management class at the local university extension center in a bid to shore up my project management credentials. The first day I introduced myself to a fellow student. After he asked me where I worked at, he said he knew a girl who worked here. As it happens, she worked in my group. She had this abrasive personality that drove people crazy. You couldn't predict what she would do next and rumor has it that she fought with a couple of customers on the phone. They finally had to let her go. When he said her name, I nodded and there was this brief moment of awkward silence; he thinking his thoughts and I mine. When you don't have any positive things to say about someone, its best to skip forward and that is what I did by changing the subject.