Why don't strangers on the street typically...

Post Reply New Topic

I'd be surprised if that was completely true!

I'm having second thoughts about my plan. Is it actually that rude? Or is it my nervousness kicking in?

It depends how you approach it. Maybe look for people who seem like they might be receptive. If people look like they don't want to be talked to, then leave them be. Generally older people are a bit more receptive to random conversation with strangers.

Well, I'm obviously not gonna start a conversation with someone who is talking to other people (they have friends around) or who are texting on their cellphones and I'm not gonna sit beside someone in a classroom unless the class is crowded.

So there are quite a bit of restrictions, but I think the opportunity comes up all the time. You're standing/sitting there alone, they are also alone, not having anything to do...lets start a conversation!!

because due to fears of pedophiles and such, we're taught to hate strangers.

What if its just adult-to-adult conversations? I don't see a problem with that.

Because that would be stupid. You get on a bus to get somewhere, not to do even more stressful, unnecessary human interaction

Eye contact on the london underground amuses me.

One day I was commuting down to the south west side of the city and being the peak hour traffic i was hemmed in from all angles. Luckily i got a seat cause i got on board at one of the outer zone stations. I just decided out of boredom to see what would happen if i made this face --> at the person sitting opposite me on the train. His eye contact wondered everywhere else on the train but look directly back at me...ahh poor guy...well no he isn't poor he quite clearly was some rich twat with his fancy shoes n suit. Probably a b(w)anker anyway

I did that accidentally when I commuted. I liked looking through the windows opposite and watching the tunnel wall moving past and would just stare at it and zone out with music playing on my (proudly generic ) mp3 player.
The problem is that it would be at about the same level as someone's eyes and it was only as I noticed them becoming more restless or scowling at me that I realized what was happening.
Funny though. They really did get restless, poor things, but there can't be much that's capable of resisting a full-blown Aspie laser-stare.

A funny thing a mate of mine did on the London Underground was sit on a train full of businessmen and set the alarm on his phone to go off in 5 minutes. When it went off, he pretended to answer a call and acted like he was talking to his stock broker. Everyone on the train then got their phones out and frantically tried to get a signal

Hah! I would love to have seen that!

To the OP, in short, no one cares about anyone that they don't know and are thus unlikely to strike up a conversation.

Really? Please tell me you realize not everyone with a gun is a criminal. Quite the opposite in fact.

I'm sure this isn't what you meant, but the "opposite" of "not everyone with a gun is a criminal" could be construed as "everyone with a gun is not a criminal," which clearly is not the case. And even if the non criminals outnumber the criminals, it's the one that is that's a BIG problem. Plenty of reason for discomfort when you don't know, IMHO.

I've attempted it a couple of times, with eye contact and a smile and the rest of the script, but once the conversation took off, I could not hear anything the other person was saying. So I'm not doing it anymore, and I don't want to follow through when people start the conversation because I don't want to make it seem like I'm not listening to what they're saying. I just can't hear what people are saying to me in crowded, noisy places, period.

For me it's pretty easy to kick off a conversation, but it's very hard to get very far.

Yeah, that would have gone better with my parallel train of thought which I didn't type, that being please tell me you don't think everyone with a gun is a criminal. I tend to have a bit of a moment when I see or perceive any anti-gun rhetoric.