A friendly reminder to be careful who you open up to

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RenegadeWanderer
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22 Oct 2023, 4:42 am

To start off, I was sitting by myself at my place feeling bored and unfulfilled, so I decided to take a trip to the big bad city looking for some fun and excitement as well as explore around by myself, figuring out my life and ask myself questions such as: Who am I? What am I going to do in this life? Where am I going? kind of questions . So I arrive, I find a parking spot, I get out and walk around, I stumble across this vibrant bar with music playing that you can hear from the outside and stop to take a look at the place.

Now one would think that a place crowded with a tone of people with music blasting at uncomfortable volume levels would be enough to intimidate most people with issues that I have away and nope on out of there. However, I had this feeling inside of me where I felt unsatisfied with where I was in life and that I needed some adventure. So I decided to take a ride into the Danger Zone and explore the bar.

While at this bar
I decide to observe the place and try to adapt a "When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do" mindset. While sipping away, I am asked by someone if it's aright if I sit next to me to which I say: "Yeah that's totally fine". I decide to start a conversation and be friendly by asking them questions such as: "How long have you been coming here? Things are going well until I ask "Have you been here before". He answers yes, and I admit that it's my first time.

Oops! I guess that was a mistake, especially coming by yourself without any friends, because this person gives off hints in body language form of "That is totally uncool!". They said they will be back with some drinks to which they never did. Now thankfully I wasn't expecting to make any friends or potential dates that night so I really didn't care and decided to continue on exploring the place.

After a while, I decided that I had seen enough of the place to get an idea of the social attitude and leave. I later walked around the city, and while deep in my thoughts of observing and pondering, I remembered why I have trust issues with most people While it is true in some ways that getting out there and exploring is good for you, remember that there are those who will try to take advantage of you and won't except you for who you are.


TL;DR: Got bored one late night, decided to venture out into the city in my state and explore around by myself and do some soul searching. Got reminded that there are people who are fake out there. Watch yourselves out there.



Summer_Twilight
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23 Oct 2023, 9:35 am

I don’t know if that person was fake per day. It sounds like they just lost their interest in the conversation.



RenegadeWanderer
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23 Oct 2023, 1:33 pm

Yeah that could be it as well. Maybe it was just exploring around certain parts of the city afterwards that I started to get bad vibes and began thinking of the local area as a dog eat dog world even though that isn't true from past experiences at other places at different towns and cities. Maybe I'll return at some point once I have the time and do more research.



Summer_Twilight
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23 Oct 2023, 1:39 pm

Who did all the questions?



RenegadeWanderer
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24 Oct 2023, 12:51 am

Me for the most part. I'll admit I was getting kind of tipsy.



Summer_Twilight
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24 Oct 2023, 6:44 am

Sometimes asking lots of questions can be a turn off for people. I also don’t think you said anything bad about being your first time. It just don’t think they were interested in continuing the conversation any further.



ImagineDragons
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24 Oct 2023, 6:58 am

Sorry to be negative but I’ve learnt ( by extensive experience) to trust or open up to nobody ! !
( with the exception of possibly one of your best friends or partner or close family member)



DanielW
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24 Oct 2023, 7:23 am

Unless there was more going on in that situation, simply admitting to a stranger that you have never been in that bar before is a lot to build your assumptions on. While I don't doubt your reading of this particular person's body language, there are lots of reason's that someone just isn't in to you.

People go to bars to drink, dance, or find a hook up. and in a crowded bar there is a lot of competition. I wouldn't take a single snub so seriously in future. That person, that bar or even just that night, was just not the right set of circumstances - it doesn't automatically mean you did anything wrong by taking a shot at meeting someone.



blitzkrieg
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24 Oct 2023, 8:35 am

Maybe they were looking for some company who had company with them, and because you were on your own they didn't bother with entertaining you?

They may just have not liked your voice, or some non-verbal cues you may not have been aware of.

You just don't know & I wouldn't dwell on it.



RenegadeWanderer
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25 Oct 2023, 3:10 am

Summer_Twilight wrote:
Sometimes asking lots of questions can be a turn off for people. I also don’t think you said anything bad about being your first time. It just don’t think they were interested in continuing the conversation any further.


Ah. Well I did try my best not to go overboard with the questions I asked but who knows, maybe I wasn't self aware enough at the time. I've made my fair share of social mistakes. Some of them bad enough to make me go: "What the :!: was I thinking?

DanielW wrote:
In a crowded bar there is a lot of competition


I can't deny that. There were people who were quite lively and letting themselves loose, and then there were people who were by themselves minding their own business.

DanielW wrote:
I wouldn't take a single snub so seriously in future. That person, that bar or even just that night, was just not the right set of circumstances

Yeah true. I have gone to other bars in the past and have met some interesting people before. Could be on and off anxiety and depression as well as being socially behind for me, but there are times when you just can't tell who is legit and who isn't.


blitzkrieg wrote:
Maybe they were looking for some company who had company with them, and because you were on your own they didn't bother with entertaining you?

They may just have not liked your voice, or some non-verbal cues you may not have been aware of.

You just don't know & I wouldn't dwell on it.


Who knows, but it's all good. It was more of a chalk it up and prepare yourself for next time life experience . Not trying to sound all Misanthropic, but I wanted to at least remind some of the people out there to be careful around others while venturing out.



rse92
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25 Oct 2023, 12:59 pm

As an autistic person, how certain are you of your ability to “read body language?”



rse92
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25 Oct 2023, 1:04 pm

People will engage in continued conversation with a new person if they make a connection over something shared (friends, interests, hometown or state, schools etc.). Your job as a conversationalist is to find that connection. If you don’t and you are starting from ground zero, it is going to be hard to click unless you are mutually attracted to one another.



RenegadeWanderer
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25 Oct 2023, 5:25 pm

rse92 wrote:
As an autistic person, how certain are you of your ability to “read body language?”

I'm not fluent, but I know some of the basics such as: Arms crossed, Rolling eyes, Facial expressions, certain hand gestures including the infamous one involving a certain finger8

rse92 wrote:
People will engage in continued conversation with a new person if they make a connection over something shared (friends, interests, hometown or state, schools etc.). Your job as a conversationalist is to find that connection. If you don’t and you are starting from ground zero, it is going to be hard to click unless you are mutually attracted to one another.

That is true about the whole connecting with someone. Problem is that conversations can feel like a gamble at times and you learn you will have to choose your words carefully



JustFoundHere
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11 Nov 2023, 3:13 pm

Trust your intuition, sixth-sense, and gut feelings if you don't know people beyond a "first name" basis, AND/OR if other persons only know you on a "first name basis."

When in doubt, don't!



zacb
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16 Nov 2023, 1:55 am

RenegadeWanderer wrote:
To start off, I was sitting by myself at my place feeling bored and unfulfilled, so I decided to take a trip to the big bad city looking for some fun and excitement as well as explore around by myself, figuring out my life and ask myself questions such as: Who am I? What am I going to do in this life? Where am I going? kind of questions . So I arrive, I find a parking spot, I get out and walk around, I stumble across this vibrant bar with music playing that you can hear from the outside and stop to take a look at the place.

Now one would think that a place crowded with a tone of people with music blasting at uncomfortable volume levels would be enough to intimidate most people with issues that I have away and nope on out of there. However, I had this feeling inside of me where I felt unsatisfied with where I was in life and that I needed some adventure. So I decided to take a ride into the Danger Zone and explore the bar.

While at this bar
I decide to observe the place and try to adapt a "When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do" mindset. While sipping away, I am asked by someone if it's aright if I sit next to me to which I say: "Yeah that's totally fine". I decide to start a conversation and be friendly by asking them questions such as: "How long have you been coming here? Things are going well until I ask "Have you been here before". He answers yes, and I admit that it's my first time.

Oops! I guess that was a mistake, especially coming by yourself without any friends, because this person gives off hints in body language form of "That is totally uncool!". They said they will be back with some drinks to which they never did. Now thankfully I wasn't expecting to make any friends or potential dates that night so I really didn't care and decided to continue on exploring the place.

After a while, I decided that I had seen enough of the place to get an idea of the social attitude and leave. I later walked around the city, and while deep in my thoughts of observing and pondering, I remembered why I have trust issues with most people While it is true in some ways that getting out there and exploring is good for you, remember that there are those who will try to take advantage of you and won't except you for who you are.


TL;DR: Got bored one late night, decided to venture out into the city in my state and explore around by myself and do some soul searching. Got reminded that there are people who are fake out there. Watch yourselves out there.


Maybe it is just me, but unless you are in a mega city the bar selection is hit or miss for socializing. I live in a smallish/medium city and there are some good bards for food and drink, but I just can't get into the crowd. Contrast this with Dallas, which had a lot more niche bars. I think I need to move to a mega city honestly.



CockneyRebel
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21 Nov 2023, 11:54 pm

I make it a point not to trust just anyone. I did that in college and that didn't turn out too well.


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