How often do you make peoples' eyes glaze over?

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I do it at least once every day.


For example, some Mennonite women came into the thrift store I work at. One was using her cell-phone. When they were done shopping, they all boarded their van and left.

After they left, another customer came up to the register. She looked quite upset and said to me, "Did you see those Amish people, using cell-phones and riding that van?" She laughed haughtily. "I thought those people were all about not using electricity. Hypocrites. "

Then I told her, "Actually, those 'people' are Mennonites. Mennonites do, in fact, drive cars and use electricity. They are more flexible than Amish people when it comes to modern conveniences."

Her eyes glazed over and her facial expression dropped. She did not say another word as I completed her transaction and then she promptly left the store.

Last edited by CleverKitten on 30 Jan 2010, 9:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

That woman had a low thresh-hold for information overload. Oh no! Knowledge! Aack!

I thought you were going to be talking about the way a lot of AS people talk on and on about their special interest, until people get that "glazed over" look that means they aren't paying attention.

In the situation you describe, it sounds like she didn't want to listen to what you had to say. Not only were you correcting her error, but, more importantly, you were not agreeing with her in a chatty way, which is probably what she had been hoping for.

And you know what I say to that? I say good for you. It was tacky and ill-mannered of her to make a comment like that about another customer/group of people. If you had lowered yourself to agree with her comments, "those Amish/Mennonite/whatever people are...." then that would have been unprofessional.

You put her in her place.

the war on ignorance may only be won through many small victories... i would like to think that there is a tipping point for positive change in the attitudes and awareness of an individual. each polite and considered effort, such as the one you describe, can only contribute to this.



indeed, this may be the case! that being said, lessons don't always stick - so don't give up! you did a good thing, CleverKitten.

Oh goodness yes, this has happened to me. I've learned to keep my mouth shut.
One day in math, we were with our assigned groups and one girl, who isn't very intelligent, said "Why do they make us learn math. When are we going to use it" and I starting talking about how math help build our logic skills and how it is useful in that sense. At first I got that glazed over look, and then she gave me a "who do you think you are" sort of look.

I find that it happens a lot, when I talk about things that are mainstream. People expect me to talk about 60s related stuff, because of my appearance, and they welcome it. When I talk about things that are mainstream, peoples' eyes glaze over, because I'm out of the pigeon hole that they neatly like to put me in.

To add to this, the major Amish community in Lancaster County, PA is more modern than your stereotypical Amish person is.

I have AS so I really don't know.

I used to do that with my science teachers when I was little. I stopped after they always told me how it's rude to correct the teacher or interrupt the teacher or talk back to the teacher.
I guess most people have an irrational fear of knowledge, especially 3rd grade science teachers.

I don't know...I haven't noticed people's eyes glazing over. I stop talking when people tell me to stop.

Being talked to death, being corrected, recieving an unexpected response, all seems to have this effect on people.

It's funny, but disheartening at the same time. Once they get that certain "look", do they stop hearing or processing words? Do their minds just fly away to some fantasy land where they're always right, things go exactly as they expect, and the conversation is always about their own interests?

I will admit that I do it too. I get that "glazed" look when the conversation gets boring (although I do tend to become more alert when I am corrected or recieve an unexpected response). Then whoosh, I'm in a world of my own.

Last edited by CleverKitten on 31 Jan 2010, 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, I agree, most of us consider that a pretty regular response to our conversation. But in your case, well, that could have happened to anyone. That wasn't information overload. That was a smart-mouthed person trying to run down someone else for not being what they thought they should be, and being set straight in her ignorant observation. Honestly, if she had any decency or humility at all, she was probably feeling embarrassed at her rash words. There's nothing like a mild-tempered person doing the right thing to make the person being a jerk feel like a jerk. And it's the best way. At the very least, she recognized that you weren't buying, and stopped saying those things. On the whole, I applaud you for setting things straight.

You're right. You stopped her in her tracks CleverKitten. Like when my boss was making jokes about the Southeast Asia sex tour trade. I told him children having to sell their bodies to feed the family just isn't funny.

Yea, seriously! It's understandable if their eyes glazed over if given a whole lecture on the theological and practical differences between various sects of Anabaptists, but simply stating that Mennonites use electricity? I don't think it was an "information overload" issue at all. The woman wanted to complain and call other people hypocrites, and was upset that her complaint didn't have an actual basis.

Most likely true, but perhaps for this woman anything that doesn't fit her world view was information overload. That's what I meant.

That's what I meant by the "yea, seriously!" part.. that she really did have a ridiculously low threshold for information overload, but then more, because I think of "information overload" as more like "overwhelm."

Hmm.. How often is it that I start off a post with one thing, and then by the end of what I was trying to say, the beginning starts to get irrelevant or nonsensical because of what I said in the middle and end? I seem to do that a lot.