Do you attract strangers when you're out in public? Do you find yourself having long conversations with these people in the bread aisle or are you one of these people who'll talk to anyone, anywhere?

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Answers

God, yes. Jesus, I thought it was just me. Ithappens all the time, but the night that sticks out in my mind-- I was at a park after hours with a couple of friends, it must have been three in the morning. No one -anywhere- until this drunk, scraggly guy shows up and starts calling to me. "I need somebody to talk to!" There was a long negotiation between us, while I got my pocketknife out, and my friends flanked me to ensure my safety. Turns out I looked -just- like the guy's heroin junkie girlfriend (gee thanks) who'd moved out on him while he was in jail, and his heart was broken, broken, broken. I talked to this guy for a good two hours about how he had to clean up his life if he wanted to keep a girlfriend (snort) and how much he wanted to stay out of jail (jeeez) and how much I looked like the heroin junkie girlfriend (thanks again.)

Oy.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

I'm married to the soft touch of the universe. Call my house at any time and if hubby answers he'll listen to anything you have to say. Salesmen love him. Insurance people adore him. After 20 minutes he mentions casually that 'wife' makes those decissions. That's when he hands the phone to me. I'm a true bitch. It takes me 3 seconsd to tell that poor person I'm not interested and hang up. They start with high hopes of selling whatever it is they sell. Then they get ME! I just love doing that.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Because I am a home health nurse, I have more contact with various family members than a hospital nurse usually does. So I am there trying to do my thing with the patient and their family will want to ask questions about their own medical problems. Or show me this weird spot they found on their body. Or ask me about the medications they are taking, but forget what they are called, but it is "that little white pill for m' blood." I listen very politely and always say the same thing, "You are going to have to talk to your doctor because, gosh, it could be a number of things." Or, "Ew. That looks nasty. You might want to call your doctor." I am certain that is frustrating for them. In public, I don't get approached all that often because I have perfected the "I am invisible and you can't see me" thing, especially when in the grocery store. Ain't nothin' worse than groping fruit and having a stranger approach and want to converse. VonGoddess


-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

A friend of mine once referred to me as "flypaper for freaks". He was so right. He was so very, very right.

I must have not only a "talk to me" sign posted on my body, but also a "touch me" sign. Random people will come up to me and just...touch me. No reason. "Oh, I just wanted to touch your hair." "Oh, you look so much like my daughter/girlfriend/best friend/whatever".

I'm always tempted to say that I'm not and just walk away, but for some reason, I can't do that. No, I have to stand there and listen to them talk about their dead cat and how they're allergic to mothballs or whatever the fuck it is that they're talking about.

Shoot me. Please.

-Meghan

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

*Yes.* Long, bread-aisle conversations are my specialty... I don't know whether it's the hair, or my face, or what, but people usually ask me for directions, money, time, opinion, whatever.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2000

Only when I am in a big hurry to get somewhere. And usually it is people telling me some obvious fact that they think "seems" to have escaped me. Case in point, I had parked my car ever so near a no parking zone...and this stray random guy tells me that I really should move my car so I don't get a ticket, because his friend had parked there last week and _he_ got a ticket, so of course I would as well. Or when I was about to cross the street, this "gentleman" tells me to watch out for the car that I had already seen...which of course made me lose both my balance and train of thought...neither a good recipe for crossing the street in front of a speeding vehicle.

But the best (?) was having this quasi homeless looking man come up to me and ask for directions as I was was walking to my car. I told him all I knew, at which point he tells me that I am clearly wrong and starts to harrass me about how I should know where this certain building was and how dare I tell him to go to the wrong part of town...I should have known that he had already tried going to the part of town I thought he might be referring to.

Funny thing is...that was last spring...I found the building he was looking for last week.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2000

Sasha...this entry cracked me up! I do seem to get hounded by old people, but usually only the men. I'm not sure what the cause of that is. Anyway...they like to get me when I'm in a hurry. I guess I look most peaceful then so they feel as if I'm easy to talk to. What the heck? Anyway...I was laughing my butt off during this entry because I can relate...totally!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

All the freakin' time.... People just blurt out their live's storeis at me. You know, just because...

I am going to get groceries later today, I'll consider myself warned. Although it did happen last time I went. Not only do grownups talk to me, some kids somehow mistake me for their mother. As if they didn't notice the two or three kids hanging off me already...

My kids will talk to anyone, anytime. When Meahgan was about two, she went for a month or so where whoever she saw with grey hair, she would holler out "Grampy! or "Nanny!" to total strangers. So you know that stopped the shopping cart traffic.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Apparently I have a face that makes people trust me without hesitation. You wouldn't believe the stories that are told to me by complete strangers. I used to get to work by train, and this ride took about 3.5 hours a day (back and forth). At least once a week I had to listen to a story about some girl who got fucked by her boyfriend, a close friend that died a couple of days ago because of a car accident, what happened on a birthday party of a teenager, what color the new neighbors dog has, ect ect ect... My soon-to-be-ex really can get pissed when something like that happens when she is sitting next to me and the teller is totally ignoring her.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

YES!!!! In fact my friends have dubbed me the "Weirdo Magnet." They're trying to convince me to put up a website called Diary of a Weirdo Magnet chronicalling my almost daily encounters with weirdness. Thanks for mentioning this here - it's nice to know I'm not alone.

~X

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2000