[Spareribs]

From time to time I see and hear about people getting mad or a little upset about some random crazy person they meet in a street or even inside a building. Perhaps this random person will say something offensive to you and you get annoyed and you may say something negative to that person to retaliate. Don't do it.

I used to hang out in cities like New York and Philadelphia and I have seen many random angry strangers in public. If they say something to me, I just pretend they are invisible and go about my own business. It's the easiest thing to do and not even worth arguing back.

I've seen cases where other people can't resist argueing back at an offensive stranger. What's the point? In likelihood you will never see that freak again! So just ignore any weirdo who says something offensive to you in public.

Even in a small town, you can run into a similar situation and people in small towns have a harder time ignoring crazy strangers since they were never exposed to life in a big city. Let that whacko babble on in his anger and just ignore. Argueing back at him will be pointless.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Who doesn't? You never know if they might bite, and some of them look icky enough to have both rabies and hepatitis. We had this cuhhrazy beeatch yelling at us to giver her her damn husband back, and I had to resist saying something to the effect of, "just because we're from up North doesn't mean we support the ex-President exiled in Hawaii" (Marcos' martial law suspended habeas corpus and you could get picked up without a warrant; many people were picked up just to be gangraped by his goons, including one lady who was bent over one guy and simultaneously triple penetrated and a pregnant Commie whose ass was drilled by a whole battalion).

 

And THAT is why I had to resist saying anything no matter how much we resent that person who lived out the rest of his cursed life in Hawaii - for all we know she went through the same hell in the loyalist police and military camp. Although of course my first concern is rabies and hepatitis.

 

[Spareribs]

Good point. I've seen crazy old ladies in public and it can get ugly.

But yeah, there are times when I see a person yell back at a stranger when in reality, it would have been better to just let it go and be quiet. Not worth stressing over.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I used to work at a downtown building. At lunch, we would walk to the many restaurants within a 5 block radius. That area had quite a few resident street people that we would see almost every day. After a while, we started making up names for them:

1) "Stinky" - this dude simply reeked! It was no joke - his stench would make you gag. He would walk up to you with his hand out, and in a really raspy voice he would croak: "spare some change" As soon as we saw him, we would hold our breath and walk by as fast as we could.

2) "Sister Mary Joseph" - she would stand in the middle of the sidewalk with her two hands cupped in front of her, a rosary twined in her fingers, her eyes cast upward and a pitiful and beatific look on her face. She never said a word and never moved - except to quickly squirrel away any money people would drop into her cupped hands.

3) "The Walker" - this guy was simply amazing. He was always walking very, very quickly down the street, usually in an animated way and mumbling to himself. We would see him EVERYWHERE - sometimes many miles away, always doing the same thing. We were never sure if he would occasionally get on a bus, or hitch a ride, or if he simply kept walking and ended up many miles away. If you happened to be next to him at a corner waiting for the light to change, he would ALWAYS say: "Got a quarter?"

 

[Spareribs]

Fortunately, I haven't had bad or unpleasant experiences with homeless people.

 

[SomeWiseGuy]

I was at the counter of my workplace, a fast food restaurant.
 
There was this guy who never answered my questions despite my asking him what food he would like.
He would stand there, sometimes looking at the menu board, sometimes looking at me.
 
I remarked "I will not know what food you will order unless you say something."
After around twenty seconds of saying nothing, he walked away.
 
I thought that he was high on drugs.
 
Of course, we meet all kinds of different people at our workplace.

 

[Spareribs]

I used to work in a similar situatoon. When you deal with the public, there's always that one guy or lady who's mentally unstable. That can be challenging since its part of your job to deal with everyone you meet.

Occasionally you will meet delusional customers.

 

[crazychile]

Occasionally I'll play the crazy card out in public. It can make it easier to navigate through large crowds. I don't like going to public places where people are completely zoned out and oblivious to their surroundings, but it's often unavoidable. Grocery stores seem to be the worst. People usually move their carts from mid aisle when you bark at them. Rude people run the risk of getting punched, but if someone thinks you're nuts they usually can't get out of your way quick enough.

 

[Time Diver]

I got insulted mostly by old women in public for no apparent reason and I just kept on smiling, perhaps they don't like the way I look. I got upset for a time and then I forgot all about it. I understand that some people are born this way or brought up like this but that doesn't make it easy for me.