Questions tagged [strangers]
Questions about interacting with people you are not familiar with.
113 questions
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How to carry a conversation with a stranger?
I'm in my early 30s in the US and have been suffering loneliness for a long time and try to attend more social events, but I found myself having difficulty carrying conversations with strangers ...
- 193
7
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1
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777
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Confront supposed harassment/abuse on a bus stop
Scenario: You walk by a bus station and notice a, supposedly, couple that behaves suspicious.
The woman seems to be afraid of the man (stares to the ground, submissive posture, he holds her arm ...
- 183
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1
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1k
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How to handle seemingly friendly questions from stranger in social situation that ask you where you work etc?
Background : you are at a bar or some similar social place, where people gather and meet, and someone has struck up a friendly conversation with you, talking about the game playing on TV, etc, and ...
- 2,329
6
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How to handle being a faster-paced walker than someone you are walking behind?
I am a 6'2 male with fairly long legs. As a consequence, I find that I am a much faster walker than most people (even compared to other tall people...I just have a quicker pace).
I often find myself ...
- 163
10
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1
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How can I let a TikTok creator know that their content is revealing their home address without being creepy?
Tina
There is this TikTok* creator that I follow, her name is Tina*. Tina is creating workout videos as well as more personal content where she is telling jokes, talking to her siblings and parents, ...
- 119
2
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2
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883
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How to let people know I am fine?
When I'm sitting by myself, people sometimes come to talk to me or ask me if I'm okay. I suspect this is because when I'm not controlling my expressions, it looks like I'm scowling or frowning, and ...
- 138
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How to tell a doctor or nurse to speak to me in technical details without being rude
I have regular appointments with nurses and doctors due to a long term but not serious health condition. It's often a new doctor or nurse I see each time so I have to try to judge how best to ...
- 173
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How can I support someone I don't really know through a divorce?
A person I know online from a writing site recently had her parents get divorced. I first messaged her about a month or two ago, probably mid December before Christmas. As far as I can tell, which isn'...
- 131
2
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1
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834
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How to save face and apologize after a text was taken the wrong way?
Okay, so our coaching has a discussion forum for all members to post questions related to our studies. The group is on Telegram, where I'm registered with a gender-neutral username and a profile pic ...
- 55
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Are there any common hand signals/gestures one can use while wearing a mask that can communicate simple things to others?
I live in New York City — The Big Apple! One of the largest cities in the world! — and also the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
As such, I’ve been wearing a mask daily for ...
- 1,378
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How to respond to strangers who shout compliments across the street?
One sunny afternoon, I was walking down a relatively large downtown street in Canada, when I head a loud voice from across the street:
Nice shirt! Looking good!
I immediately turned my head and ...
- 169
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830
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How to deal with rude remarks from strangers on the street?
Today as I was waiting at the traffic light a old lady came and yelled at me with very rude and loud voice "You have to press the button!!!".
I pass there every day and it makes no difference whether ...
- 291
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3
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658
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How to make people write down correctly my email, without being condescending?
I have a quite common (in my country) name and surname, so I have a personal email address that is like [email protected], the country suffix added because john.smith was already taken. It is ...
- 142
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Refusing to let people in
I work in a facility where it is open to the public except for a small section. I work in this section and this section requires an access card when entering the door (anyone can buy one, but it is ...
- 111
3
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2
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804
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How to ask potential wedding photographer about low number of reviews
My fiance and I are looking at wedding photographers. She found one she says is perfect (matches our budget and preferred style). We talked with him over the phone yesterday and he seemed like a great ...
- 31
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How to identify and approach persons of low income with the aim to help [closed]
I apologize in advance if this seems distasteful in any way, I'm genuinely trying to be helpful.
I live in a low income area in the UK, however I am fairly comfortable financially.
It pains me ...
- 141
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1
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2k
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How could I have better handled telling this minority woman I liked her cultural hairstyle?
Background
This happened in Netherlands. I have some mixed ancestry. I mostly look like a Dutch person, except for my curly bush of hair and my olive skin. In school I got bullied a lot because of my ...
- 7,982
9
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When offering a ride through a ride-share app, how to politely assign obese people to the front seat?
I use a rideshare app when travelling between cities, which I often do. This saves money and is often very fun. People evaluate you as a driver, and it is important to keep a good score. I let 3 ...
- 307
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3
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972
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How to talk reasonably to a stubborn person without turning them into a disaster?
My best friend, Liz, is shy, introvert and has anxiety. Sometimes she asks me when I have free time to accompany her to parties, shopping and doing stuff so she feels more comfortable with me around. ...
- 953
11
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How to politely ask for a price for a commision, when I only intend to ask?
I wanted to ask for a price for a commission from an artist. However, my budget is lower than what I think the commission would be worth, hence I intend to only ask for the price and not buy the ...
- 8,468
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3
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How to ask people not to push in front of me at concerts?
I have some experience with concerts (mostly heavy-metal ones, but pretty sure it's the same for any genre).
And every time some people try get to the front rows either by just walking as they have a ...
- 163
2
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2
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937
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Etiquette about crossing a door when someone also wants to cross from the opposite side?
Let's take the following situation:
I'm on the outside and want to go inside
Someone is inside and want to go outside
The door is open (one of us is holding it)
There isn't enough room for both of ...
- 17.2k
5
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1
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6k
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How to know how much money to give someone for a ride home?
With my work, we sometimes travel to different locations. At the end of the day, it's common for people to offer and ask for rides home. There was one person who lived relatively close to me. We never ...
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3
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How can I find out how many photos I should take If I'm given a film camera to take a picture?
On occasion, when I go to tourist hotspots, people sometimes give me their cameras and ask me to take pictures of them. Most of the time, those are digital camera (e.g. smartphones), and it makes ...
- 1,723
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How many photos should I take If I'm given a camera to take a picture?
I live in a fairly touristic place and get asked to take pictures of strangers a lot. When I do this, I get a little bit self-conscious thinking if they are saying to themselves "this dude is taking ...
- 353
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3
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Negative feedbacks and "Language smoother"
I don't know what is the "scientific" term for that but I noticed that, when people give negative feedback, they sometimes use "tricks" to make their words less harsh.
For example, they will use ...
- 17.2k
6
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3
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1k
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Goal: make conversation enjoyable for another person which you barely know, but has made it clear she wants to chat
I'm staying in an AirBnB and the host made it fairly clear that she's chatty. So let's say I want to be a really nice guest, and so I do want not only to chat with her, but make it as good as I can -- ...
- 171
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What is Soda Fountain Etiquette?
The other day I was walking with my cup to the Soda Fountain1 at a restaurant. Someone was already using the fountain, but the drink they were getting was on the far right side, while what I wanted ...
- 15.2k
11
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How can I end interactions with a stranger after a conversation has turned bad?
The situation
Last night I went to a bar after work to meet a friend to have a beer and catch up. There was a man "James" sitting next to us at the bar who had clearly taken an interest in our ...
- 9,002
12
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2k
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On what to compliment someone with anorexia in order to improve their body image?
I'm in an online support group for people with anxiety, depression and these kinds of things (I already talked about it in this question).
The other day, someone with anorexia (her words) posted a ...
- 17.2k
11
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1
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1k
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How to help a stranger (woman) in an abusive relationship?
I'm in an online support group for people with anxiety, depression and these kinds of things and, in this group, people would often post things about the difficult situation they are in.
Recently, a ...
- 17.2k
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2
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How to ask someone to not try to fix your issues
Sometimes, you talk to someone about a problem you are facing and what you want them to say is something like:
Oh yeah, that sucks.
However, the person might not get the hint and well instead tell ...
- 17.2k
12
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2
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3k
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Happy Juneteenth?
I recently learned about Juneteenth. For anyone not familiar:
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas ...
- 318
63
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9
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How to make clear to people I don't want to answer their "Where are you from?" question?
I live in the UK but am not originally from here, having moved in the last decade.
Quite often when I talk to people I get asked where I'm from. It usually seems to be in response to my accent, as I'...
- 651
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How to respond to complaints from strangers about my loud toddler?
Yesterday we did grocery shopping in our local supermarket, as every week. Normally, my dad would babysit my son (2.5 years) for this time, but it was not possible, so the child joined us.
My son was ...
- 1,062
6
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1
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540
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How to look at someone's apparel or tattoos without appearing weird?
I've often found myself admiring someone's tattoo simply for its intricate patterns and neat colors or observing someone's shirt that might have a logo or emblem of a popular video game that they ...
- 3,368
10
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1
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702
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How to address the disapproval of someones actions when he/she throws litter on the ground
Today I was cycling home from work. I was just cycling past a group of two girls when one of them hit me carelessly when she was throwing her tin can of energy drink on the ground. They said "sorry ...
- 273
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How to tell an unknown cyclist I don't want to give them the pace
I commute to work by bike. Being tall and going at a fair speed, I am aware a give a good wake.
Sometimes it happens that some other cyclist, a complete stranger to me, simply stitch behind me and ...
- 101
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2
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796
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Professor gets cursory requests for advice from total strangers -- how to make them be more considerate?
I am a professor in a popular STEM field with a reasonably prominent list of publications, enough that if you Google AREA or method XXX you may encounter my name. About once a week I receive emails ...
- 424
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4
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891
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How to make a new trainee feel comfortable at lunch?
Today, one of my coworkers "tasked" me to eat with the new trainee (so that she won't eat alone since my colleague wasn't available for lunch).
I wanted this person to feel comfortable so I ...
- 17.2k
12
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6
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2k
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How to tell a stranger that the way I wish to educate my child is none of his/her business?
Consider the following scenario: I'm taking my kid (5 years old) to a coffeeshop and we do some 'math problems'. By math problems I mean that I explain him about the numbers, addition, counting and so ...
- 1,059
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How can I ask someone in a quiet library to stop clearing their throat?
I have ADHD and as such have terrible difficulty maintaining my concentration, especially when working on homework. Because of this, I often like to work on the "quiet floor" of my university's ...
- 111
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1
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How can I support my aunt when she is being "yelled" at by a stranger?
The other day, I was in some kind of park where children had tools and material to build huts. Since they weren't a lot of material, when a hut was finished it was then dismantled and the material was ...
- 17.2k
4
votes
2
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872
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Complimenting a complete stranger on public transportation
The other day, I was in the subway when I saw a bag with a very funny joke on it. The joke made me smile, so I wanted to compliment the person wearing it (my thought was that they brightened my day ...
- 17.2k
16
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1
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How to tell a user at the gym that it's not OK to use one machine and “reserve” another one?
The following situation has happened to me several times:
A user in the gym is using some machine or equipment (a bench, a row machine, a bar, etc.). When I'm going to use another machine or ...
14
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2
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528
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How can I offer to take care of the dog of a stranger when he/she is not home?
I live in an apartment building and I can often hear a dog whining in the apartment above mine, presumably because the owner is not home. The noise is only a slight bother, I more so feel bad for the ...
- 141
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How to approach an unknown person via email if I only have a name that sounds like her nickname?
So, I am researching master courses opportunities on a university at a different country (Scotland) and I was talking to the course director via email, asking about the workload of the course and he ...
- 59
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3
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459
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How to gracefully ask HOA residents about their experiences?
I am currently looking for a condominium and would like to ask the residents within the HOA (Home Owner Association) building about their experiences with said HOA. This most likely involves knocking ...
- 3,368
8
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2
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678
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public transport: how to know (non-verbally) if someone needs a seat?
I'm someone who gets easily physically tired. This means that, on public transportation, I will almost always look for a seat.
Some days, there are no seats available but I'm so tired that I will ...
- 17.2k
15
votes
1
answer
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Non-disabled people parking on handicap spots
This morning, when I went to the local bakery, a woman (maybe around 25 years old) parking on the handicap spot right in front of the store. To me, she didn't look disabled at all. Granted, not every ...
- 1,531