Why is Joes visit not a success in Great Expectations?

From the moment the two are reunited, both are very uncomfortable. Joe's speech is a garbled attempt at sounding over-eloquent, he calls Pip "Sir," and he seems to use his hat to divert his nervous energy, and it's constantly falling on the floor. Older Pip explains Joe's nervousness as a consequence of Pip's: "...if I had been easier with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me."

Joe is not oblivious to the discomfort between he and Pip, and he admits, with what Older Pip appreciates as real dignity, that he is much more at ease in the forge, and that he and Pip really don't belong together in London. Joe has a simple, though dignified attitude about the divisions between men:

"... one [man's] a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come."