Do you get approached a lot by strangers?

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Are people always coming up to you in the street and trying to talk to you? Do you like it?

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

Answers

Yeah, but only when I'm looking nerdy. When I first shaved off my goatee, I was approached by three different people in the Pioneer Square district during my lunch hour to ask me various random things. When I wore my glasses to the grocery store, this new agey hippy woman asked me to meet her at a coffee shop later. I like it because I spend most of my time locked in a little room, and human interaction is interesting.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

I no longer give off vibes that make people want to approach me. That's too bad though. It's much more difficult now to knock them unconscious and throw them into my van.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

Yeah, I do the walkman thing too. Usually I don't even have it on, but the appearance of headphones are really the important part. But, just like you, I sometimes get approached with a gregarious-yet-annoying question. For some reason, I often get mistaken for sales reps, anywhere from Nordstrom to a waitress at a restaurant. "Excuse me, do you know where I might find the petit section?" NO! I do not work here, I am not wearing a nametag, and I am not petit! What could have possibly have given you the indication that I know where *anything* is?!
Then again, nobody annoying would approach me in my goth years, so maybe there's something to that...

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

I'm male, large, dark, and usually look grim-- people seem to steer clear (alas-- 'people' includes lovely leggy clever hip girls!)... But for some reason people do come up to me in bars, on trains or planes, in bookstores and tell me their stories... Apparently I look like someone who either wouldn't be shocked/offended or who's undoubtedly done worse himself, so they feel free to confess to me.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

Hey Andrea, do you carry a purse? Because I usually don't, and as a result, I have the same problem of people coming up to me in stores and asking me for help. I think they assume that anyone not carrying a purse must belong there.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000


You know, I don't...

That makes a lot of sense, I suppose. Yeah, I'm sure that's probably it.
Besides being heavy and bulky, I have a tendency to put things down and forget them, much as I hate to admit it. So to safeguard against this, it's a decidedly un-purselike wallet for me.
I wonder what sort of effect a piercing would have? I mean, what if I had a nice, shiny cubic zirconium nosering? Then would people still find me so approachable? I mean, that's a pretty dumb reason for getting one, but it's something to consider...

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000

just wear an eye patch, muss your hair, and carry a bible.

I'm sure very few people will talk to you.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2000


Strangers almost always approach me to chat, ask for directions, and tell to me their life story. I would understand if I was really cheery and bubbly, but since most strangers start up conversations with me in the wee hours of the morning, and I am NOT a morning person, I sincerely doubt that I giving off that "vibe".

In response to the "bible" comment, that actually works! One of my classes includes reading sections of the bible, and during a trip to Florida, I decided to catch up on some homework poolside. Not ONE person approached me ... as a matter of a fact, I can honestly say that people were AVOIDING me. I should invent "Bible Covers" to put over the cover of magazines and books for people who don't want to be bothered on public transportation. I'D BE RICH!

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000


Yes, I do and I don't understand it. I guess I must look approachable or harmless or something.

When I was in college (and carless until my junior year, thus using trains and buses a lot), it seemed I always attracted talkative people (and I just wanted to read). If a drunken tugboat captain wandered by (as one did) he was sure to sit next to me and engulf me in a cloud of alcohol fumes and anecdotes ("The storm was blowing eighty knots off Block Island and...")

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who turn to me for directions: it doesn't seem to matter where I am in the world, it is guaranteed that I will be asked for directions. I mean that quite literally, everywhere. It has happened in Sydney and London and Vienna and Minneapolis and New York and ... of course in foreign cities I just smile and say "Sorry, it's not my neighborhood" and they usually laugh as my American accent makes it clear that I am, indeed, not from there.

And picture-taking... strangers come up to me everywhere and ask me to take their picture. Okay, so maybe at night near Picadilly Circus, given a choice between a middle-aged guy in a suit who is carrying a laptop computer vs. members of the younger, more casually dressed, more thoroughly pierced and tattooed crowd... uh, yeah, to whom would you be more likely to entrust your 35mm camera... Okay, but sometimes I might be in shorts and t-shirt and people still ask me to take their picture with the Tower of London or whatever as backdrop.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000


Why on earth was I in Picadilly Circus at night (in the summer, no less) wearing a suit and carrying a laptop? 'Cause on my way from work to hotel (having crossed Thames on pedestrian bridge from South Bank) I had been wandering around Trafalger Square area and bought tickets to a play (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare... very funny) at a discount ticket booth and then realized that if I took the time to go back to my hotel to change I would be pressed for time but if I stayed in business costume I would have time for a leisurely dinner, so I opted to stay in costume and enjoy my meal and a couple of pints before the play.

Jim

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000



My sister and I have what we call the "Larson Face". To strangers our faces look like maps ready to be read. It makes no difference where we are. L.A., England, Hawaii, Berlin, anyplace we happen to be, you count the minutes until someone comes up to us to ask for directions. The most incredible case was in Mexico City when out of hundreds of natives on the subway, a couple decided that we knew where the McDonald's was (we did, but how did they know?). Fortunately my sister knew how to say "golden arches" in Spanish.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000

I actually was approached by a lady at the bus stop today. She wanted direction, she was from out of town (London, actually).

I don't mind. I like chatting.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2000


I have a hoop in my nose and a hoop through the middle of my lower lip, so in general I'm part of the younger, pierced, crazily-dressed, unapproached by anyone more than five years old than myself crowd. If desperate, though, people will ask anyone for directions - I've been asked before.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2000

When I was young -- all the time. Not so much anymore. I think when I was younger I looked more curious, or like I was expecting something interesting to happen any minute. People must pick up on that sense of expectation if you have an excessive number of people coming up to you.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

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