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Strange Strangers

There's a bloke sometimes found standing at the top of our road who absolutely has to engage everyone walking past in lengthy conversation, he's the sort of person who tries to continue the conversation with a new topic to your back as you're walking away. I used to cross the road which didn't work as he'd shout over to me and cross the road. Then I'd just keep walking with whatever polite excuse I could come up with but that didn't work either. Now I beeline for him and bore the shit out of him first, deliberately babbling about the weather yesterday, today and tomorrow and that seems to work. He's not unpleasant with his conversation so everyone's kind to him but everyone also rolls their eyes in fear at the mention of his name. He's probably just lonely. I'm starting to become a bit fond of him to be honest.
 
Well Swifty if he is harmless and I suspect he is very lonely then I am sure a chat won't hurt now and then. I don't mind genuine people like that it is the others that get me. Hubby tells me I am too polite and that I should, like Shady suggests, just tell them to do something that involves sex and travel. It has got to that stage with some that I just might forget myself and to heck with it. No tactics work with them so it is all that's left.
 
As I get older, I don’t seem to be a nutter magnet anymore. I reckon that now when my face is in “neutral” I look quite angry so that deters them. Maybe when I was younger my neutral face was innocent gullibility.

One of the last was in ASDA a while back when a bloke came up to me in the fruit aisle, pointed his finger at me and shouted, “Your grandmother never bought strawberries on a Tuesday eh? Eh? Eh?”

Luckily, I seem to avoid energy vampires too – mainly because I’m retired now. I encountered quite a few at work.

One guy would always ask if I was busy and I’d hold up the phone to show him I was taking a call or I’d tell him that the five other people in the room and I were having a meeting. Didn’t deter him in the slightest. He’d start muttering about some imagined grievance and how he was going to write an “angry letter” to someone in authority. Grievances included an online photographic retailer I’d recommended to him, not selling kitchen appliances and dangerous currents in the river – the council were going to get a “very angry letter” about that.

He was always asking for advice, then ignoring that advice and then would start whining about the problems caused by ignoring that advice – never his fault of course. He was one of those people that when he spoke to you (well mumbled at your shoulder) would make you think "Please God, let one of us die."

Another one was permanently angry about everything and I was stuck in an office with him. Non-stop rage all day long – he’d fly into rages about lamp posts, milk bottles, birds, clouds anything. Our office overlooked a car park and that would always add fuel to his fire. We’d be working away and suddenly there would be a shout of “LOOK AT THAT *****ING IDIOT!” and off he’d go.

It was incredibly tiring working with him, we used to go home exhausted. But, it didn’t last long. I came back from a holiday to be told that he’d had a heart attack looking at a gardening catalogue and became apoplectic over some cabbages. He ended up retiring on health grounds and it really did wonders for our health.

There was another person, I’m not sure if I’d describe her as an energy vampire but she had a very strange effect on people. She would speak in a very, flat monotonous voice and you’d very quickly realise that the edges of your vision were blurring and you were starting to sway.

I thought it was just me but other people said the same thing. We later found out she had actually raised thousands of pounds for charity. I sometimes wonder if the donors knew, “I remember saying ‘hello’ to her…then everything is a blank and I’m on my own and there’s a hundred quid missing from my wallet.”
 
He was always asking for advice, then ignoring that advice and then would start whining about the problems caused by ignoring that advice

Oh YES! The number of people who do that and then keep asking what they should do etc - you tell them YET AGAIN and so on it goes...o_O
 
As I get older, I don’t seem to be a nutter magnet anymore. I reckon that now when my face is in “neutral” I look quite angry so that deters them. Maybe when I was younger my neutral face was innocent gullibility.

One of the last was in ASDA a while back when a bloke came up to me in the fruit aisle, pointed his finger at me and shouted, “Your grandmother never bought strawberries on a Tuesday eh? Eh? Eh?”

Luckily, I seem to avoid energy vampires too – mainly because I’m retired now. I encountered quite a few at work.

One guy would always ask if I was busy and I’d hold up the phone to show him I was taking a call or I’d tell him that the five other people in the room and I were having a meeting. Didn’t deter him in the slightest. He’d start muttering about some imagined grievance and how he was going to write an “angry letter” to someone in authority. Grievances included an online photographic retailer I’d recommended to him, not selling kitchen appliances and dangerous currents in the river – the council were going to get a “very angry letter” about that.

He was always asking for advice, then ignoring that advice and then would start whining about the problems caused by ignoring that advice – never his fault of course. He was one of those people that when he spoke to you (well mumbled at your shoulder) would make you think "Please God, let one of us die."

Another one was permanently angry about everything and I was stuck in an office with him. Non-stop rage all day long – he’d fly into rages about lamp posts, milk bottles, birds, clouds anything. Our office overlooked a car park and that would always add fuel to his fire. We’d be working away and suddenly there would be a shout of “LOOK AT THAT *****ING IDIOT!” and off he’d go.

It was incredibly tiring working with him, we used to go home exhausted. But, it didn’t last long. I came back from a holiday to be told that he’d had a heart attack looking at a gardening catalogue and became apoplectic over some cabbages. He ended up retiring on health grounds and it really did wonders for our health.

There was another person, I’m not sure if I’d describe her as an energy vampire but she had a very strange effect on people. She would speak in a very, flat monotonous voice and you’d very quickly realise that the edges of your vision were blurring and you were starting to sway.

I thought it was just me but other people said the same thing. We later found out she had actually raised thousands of pounds for charity. I sometimes wonder if the donors knew, “I remember saying ‘hello’ to her…then everything is a blank and I’m on my own and there’s a hundred quid missing from my wallet.”
Then there's your mate Dave...
 
Oh YES! The number of people who do that and then keep asking what they should do etc - you tell them YET AGAIN and so on it goes...o_O
He once came to me asking about video editing software. After getting advice, he downloaded a demo version of a programme and didn't bother with it until the afternoon of the last day of the demo period - then he decided to use it for a Very Important Job. But it wasn't his fault that a lot of the features were disabled and he couldn't save anything.

The Clerk of Works at my workplace nearly had a big falling out with a local locksmith because of him. He asked if he could recommend a good locksmith and was given the name of that business.
Then the complaints started "very shoddy service" "not what I expected" and, of course, "angry letters" being written. The reason? The locksmith (the name is a clue to what they do) didn't sell shelving or roofing materials for a garden shed.
 
Comedian Jasper Carrot wrote a song about this stuff .. I think it was called 'Nutter On The Bus' about how he always attracted a nutter on the bus.

edit: it was just a sketch, I haven't listened to it in years so it might be offensive by todays standards ..

 
It was incredibly tiring working with him, we used to go home exhausted. But, it didn’t last long. I came back from a holiday to be told that he’d had a heart attack looking at a gardening catalogue and became apoplectic over some cabbages.

Angry people are permanently stressed so they're at risk of all sorts of stress-related ailments and are highly likely to drop dead or contract a lingering disease. To someone in that position a cabbage could be a lethal trigger.
 
Angry people are permanently stressed so they're at risk of all sorts of stress-related ailments and are highly likely to drop dead or contract a lingering disease. To someone in that position a cabbage could be a lethal trigger.

This character's anger was triggered off by just about anything. I've never seen anyone so angry in my life - except once. He gave me a lift home one night and his wife was in the car. There wasn't a cheep out of him - mind you his wife never stopped talking. She never shut up for the whole journey.
 
This character's anger was triggered off by just about anything. I've never seen anyone so angry in my life - except once. He gave me a lift home one night and his wife was in the car. There wasn't a cheep out of him - mind you his wife never stopped talking. She never shut up for the whole journey.

There's his problem then!

Someone I sometimes work with is just a twat to everyone. Goes out of his way to upset and annoy people. Of course I worked out what winds him up and he gets it by the bucketload from me. One day I'll give HIM a heart attack.
 
See, this worries me because my dad is an incredibly angry man, flies off the handle about total trivia, and I'm sure that's why his blood pressure is through the roof. When I feel myself getting angry over nothing important, I remember how awful he is when he's lost his temper, and try to make myself laugh instead.
 
.......There was another person, I’m not sure if I’d describe her as an energy vampire but she had a very strange effect on people. She would speak in a very, flat monotonous voice and you’d very quickly realise that the edges of your vision were blurring and you were starting to sway.

I thought it was just me but other people said the same thing. We later found out she had actually raised thousands of pounds for charity. I sometimes wonder if the donors knew, “I remember saying ‘hello’ to her…then everything is a blank and I’m on my own and there’s a hundred quid missing from my wallet.”

Now that is some class 'grey rock' chat going on on her part. This what one needs to aim for to put off the energy/drama/attention vampires!
 
See, this worries me because my dad is an incredibly angry man, flies off the handle about total trivia, and I'm sure that's why his blood pressure is through the roof. When I feel myself getting angry over nothing important, I remember how awful he is when he's lost his temper, and try to make myself laugh instead.

If people get angry in front of me they're going to be mocked. One day I will certainly kill someone like this.

Had some at the weekend, out cycling, when a driver stopped on a pelican crossing to bawl me out for pressing the button right after important ol' HE had just been held up by the temporary traffic lights 100 yards away.

He shouted snd gesticulated across his missis' face at me, and I just laughed, because
a. I couldn't hear a word
b. He looked like an angry tomato
c. He was holding HIMSELF up as the lights were still on green for him
d. His missis was crawling up her own backside from embarrassment
e. I didn't give a stuff. If he can't handle the stress of driving he should stay home.

He could see me throwing my head back and laughing. I pointed at him and beckoned Techy over to look and he laughed too. TOP entertainment.
 
If people get angry in front of me they're going to be mocked. One day I will certainly kill someone like this.

Had some at the weekend, out cycling, when a driver stopped on a pelican crossing to bawl me out for pressing the button right after important ol' HE had just been held up by the temporary traffic lights 100 yards away.

He shouted snd gesticulated across his missis' face at me, and I just laughed, because
a. I couldn't hear a word
b. He looked like an angry tomato
c. He was holding HIMSELF up as the lights were still on green for him
d. His missis was crawling up her own backside from embarrassment
e. I didn't give a stuff. If he can't handle the stress of driving he should stay home.

He could see me throwing my head back and laughing. I pointed at him and beckoned Techy over to look and he laughed too. TOP entertainment.

I had a similar situation at a pedestrian crossing. A woman in a BMW sat in the car blasting away on the horn and screaming abuse at the pedestrians who had dared to waste her precious time. She even came out with "Do you idiots know who I am?" One old bloke said, "Yes, and we don't give a shit!"
I asked him who she was and he grinned and said: "Haven't got a clue."
 
As a recent escapee from the horrifying world of retail, I have met just about every strange stranger in town. Trouble is, if they are a customer no matter how much you want to tell them to just fuck off, you have to stand there nodding. I am well practised in the art of tuning out other peoples whining. What is it with people who want to tell strangers their life stories? Casual chit chat is fine, but I really don't want or need to know about your daughter in laws new kitchen. Or, a favourite it seems, how rubbish other shops are. Certain customers would have me running and hiding because I just didn't have the mental energy to deal with them. urgh. people. :crazy:
 
I had a similar situation at a pedestrian crossing. A woman in a BMW sat in the car blasting away on the horn and screaming abuse at the pedestrians who had dared to waste her precious time. She even came out with "Do you idiots know who I am?" One old bloke said, "Yes, and we don't give a shit!"
I asked him who she was and he grinned and said: "Haven't got a clue."

Might have been Prince Phillip in drag.
 
I was brought up in the era of 'girls must be nice' by a mother who didn't like 'back-chat'. This crippled me for years; smiling and nodding and being nice and polite to the most disgusting people. Nowadays I am much better and have learned to be both rude and to back-chat.

However I was totally blindsided by a customer who started telling me about his sex life the other day...and, in retail, you can't just tell a customer they are being a nasty, bigoted and revolting person, you smile and nod and then go and tell ALL THE OTHER STAFF about it...
 
Each morning around 7.30 on my way to work, I walk past a guy who stands beside a rubbish bin drinking from a can of Stella, the road on which he stands is in an elevated position, overlooking the local train station, and though sips stares intensely at the platforms below.

He’s there each morning and has been for the past 6 months whatever the weather, he doesn’t look like he’s homeless, just a regular chap, in is early 30’s and quite smartly dressed.

It’s none of my business of course, but often I’ve thought of stopping and engaging him in some conversation, and to find out what or who he is staring at, and why he feels the need to drink strong cans lager at that time of the morning.

What do you think – bad idea.?
 
Each morning around 7.30 on my way to work, I walk past a guy who stands beside a rubbish bin drinking from a can of Stella, the road on which he stands is in an elevated position, overlooking the local train station, and though sips stares intensely at the platforms below.

He’s there each morning and has been for the past 6 months whatever the weather, he doesn’t look like he’s homeless, just a regular chap, in is early 30’s and quite smartly dressed.

It’s none of my business of course, but often I’ve thought of stopping and engaging him in some conversation, and to find out what or who he is staring at, and why he feels the need to drink strong cans lager at that time of the morning.

What do you think – bad idea.?

Go for it & report back.
 
Each morning around 7.30 on my way to work, I walk past a guy who stands beside a rubbish bin drinking from a can of Stella, the road on which he stands is in an elevated position, overlooking the local train station, and though sips stares intensely at the platforms below.

He’s there each morning and has been for the past 6 months whatever the weather, he doesn’t look like he’s homeless, just a regular chap, in is early 30’s and quite smartly dressed.

It’s none of my business of course, but often I’ve thought of stopping and engaging him in some conversation, and to find out what or who he is staring at, and why he feels the need to drink strong cans lager at that time of the morning.

What do you think – bad idea.?
Tip off the railway police in case he's thinking of jumping one day .. sounds like he needs help.
 
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