- Minding your business walking home in a quiet residential area around 7 AM (you work night shift).

- Guy smoking a cigarette standing on the sidewalk.

- Start to walk around him by walking on the grass.

- You think nothing of this. No eye contact was made, no words spoken, no anger or annoyance. Literally just walking home, minding your own business.

- As you get closer, guy leaves sidewalk, stands on grass on the opposite side and firmly tells you to use the sidewalk.

- Again, think nothing of this and keep walking, minding your own business.

- As you pass, guy yells at you "say thank you!"


Guy is in his 50s, 15-20 years older than you and slightly bigger than you.

What do you do?

Chuckle internally that a cig smoking boomer tried to get a verbal one up on me, but little does he know my self esteem won't allow me to be IRL negged as I am probably high off of a sickening gym PR from with the last 24 hours.

Tell him to fuk off/fuk himself. Don't be intimidated by some middle aged asswipe.

I'd get a new job so i didn't have to work the night shift.

Legit I'd make a comment and tell him to keep smoking and the problem will be taken care of. Don't be IRL negged by a middle-aged ***got.

I didn't go that far, but I did confront him. Kept insisting that I thank him. Refused each time. Weirdest part is that he kept alternating between trying to be nice and deescalating the situation, then he'd start mouthing off again as I started walking away. Repeatedly claimed he was a brain surgeon.

Just keep walking. No need to even acknowledge.

I would have expected him to get out of my way from the start but if I had decided to step onto the grass to walk around him and he then said something smart I would have Bert stared him as I walked past on the grass. Probably tell him to eat a dick if he sperged about saying thanks

I'd say "Live free or Die" and keep walking.
Basically the checkmate move here in NH.

You'd get into a street fight with a stranger, likely mentally ill, over something petty like this? Sounds like one of those guys on WSHH videos who get their heads bounced off the concrete and die because someone looks at them wrong.

I would have looked him in the eyes as I approached and said "good morning, sir......how ya doing today" while maintain eye contact and continuing to approach........not stared at the ground and go out of my way to walk around him, off sidewalk (which by the way is plenty wide enough for 2 people to pass by each other) for no apparent reason and acting like another human being isn't standing right there.

Was it in front of HIS house? Maybe he didn't want you walking on his grass, maybe he knew you're a beta fuk and just wanted to mess with you.

JFC how are some people so autistic....talking about you op, you're the weird one here.

Working night shifts is nightmare. Used to work as hotel night receptionist lmao horrible

This isn't bumphuck Hickville, Georgia. Won't be saying "good morning, sir... how ya doing today?" like some Forrest Gump southern rube to every stranger I pass on the sidewalk.

And no, it was not in front of HIS house, or any house for that matter. Sure as phuck not his grass either. Sidewalk's not nearly wide enough for someone to pass a guy smoking directly in the middle of it.

If it's happening often enough to you that you've developed a strategy to address the problem, you must stand out as an easy target, no?

Location is irrelevant you non-social skills having autist......it's called being pleasant. You'd be surprised how well received people can be when you're nice to them....but I don't imagine you get out much, ya know from working the night shift and all.

And where exactly are you walking down the sidewalk? I like how in your post you also felt the need to let us know he's older and bigger than you, so you had a reason to stare at the ground and do absolutely nothing then run home to make this thread.

I pull out my gun and thank him right in the face.

I'd probably just tell him to F off serious

Lately though, I'm trying to ignore stuff. I'm not doing well at it, but I'm trying. It's better to deescalte than make things worse by getting angry.

I would replied with *you're welcome*

Except it is 100% relevant. Sounds like you live in some hick small town where everyone says good morning to each other. Doesn't work that way in a major city, where even in the suburbs there's tons of foot traffic and 25% of the people barely speak English. Not to mention the impracticality of doing that to dozens of people every time you step outside your house. Literally nobody does that here. People would rightfully treat you like you are a retard if you acted like that in any major city.

And what do you mean by "where exactly are you walking down the sidewalk"? What are you even asking? I was walking... on the sidewalk. Is it just a bunch of dirt roads in your hick village?

Also like how you keep trying to make "staring at the ground" a thing, and now "running home". Why enter a thread and act like such a clown? It's not even funny trolling.

Except it's not. Yea....South Atlanta is "some small hick town"....im lucky to even have high speed internet here. Keep making your excuses to close yourself off from the world. And it's not doing it to dozens of people...it was doing it to 1 guy at 7am on your walk home through what you initially described as a "quiet residential area"....then switched to "not in front of any house for that matter"...which implies that it was NOT a residential area and now you're saying you're in a "Major City".....so which is it?

andwould"people treat you like a retard" if you acted like that in a "major city?"....because I've lived in many, including the one I live in now and they don't.....maybe it's just you. Maybe you're scared to talk to people, which is fine....a lot of people are, maybe you touch yourself too much and you lack the self confidence to look another man in the eyes and say hello....maybe you had a rough childhood and you have an aversion to masculine male figures.....I dont know.

and by "where exactly are you waking down the sidewalk" I meant "what city, area, part of town" are you walking through. I wanted to get a better sense of the area you're walking through to better offer advise on your situation. But it seems that you are going to keep making excuses to support your initial behavior of going out of your way to avoid some random guy.

I'm not saying you have to address EVERY person you see on a daily basis....that's insane.....but in a situation where it's early in the morning, just you and some other person....it wouldn't hurt to just acknowledge them by saying "good morning" and moving on with your life.

I have to agree with the first part.

You'd be surprised how effective eye contact and a greeting can be at de-escalating situations.

I've had men stare me down until I said something like "What's good man?" . Their stare goes to "who tf is this guy" to "oh he seems alright".

I'm intimidating and people think I'm a savage psychopath before they get to know me thus I'd blaze through every situation without issue SRS

keep walking??

Tuck my tail between my legs, do nothing about it, scurry home and make a thread about it.

Did I win?

OK BOOMER

then keep walking

I would have continued to notice nothing and living my life.


Your feelings are not my concern. I do appreciate any type of assistance or acknowledgement but I do not expect it and neither should anyone else. There is no obligation for any of us to do anything for anyone else like that. We don't have to hold a door for people, we don't have to say thank you when people hold the door for us, and we don't have to say you are welcome to people who say thank you when we hold the door for them.

People want this? Sure. They don't just want it, they expect it. That is their fault, and their problem.

I try to be respectful as possible in every action, I do hold the door and say thank you/your welcome, I do acknowledge the existence of other people sincerely. However, I would not be mad if someone did not treat me like that, and if for whatever reason I don't do that (usually just caught up in my own world, because I have my own world in which you do not even have a place at all), I don't give a **** if they get upset.

Additionally, people that do it the way this guy did it are simply looking for confrontation. They are not being respectful or polite. He thought he could give you an obligation to him. Lol, absolutely get ****ed.

I'd say something to the guy when I first see him, like "Good morning."

It's normal to do that. You must be autistic or something to not realize that.

When you see a stranger out in public at 7 am, you should say some sort of friendly greeting to the person.

I handle it like i always do...with my fists.

LMFAO @ that dude on the bench. HOLY FUKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKkk