I was at the grocery store earlier, and some woman started talking to me like I was someone she knew and hadn't seen me in ages. It was very awkward, as such things always are for me, because I had no idea who this person was. She was not even remotely familiar. I thought, like it often turns out, that I had just forgotten her face, so I just nodded or whatever. But it turned out we'd never met... she'd just seen me at the store a lot and liked my hair, and hadn't seen me in a while. But that made it even more awkward, because it went from "someone I don't remember is talking to me" to "why is this strange woman I've never met talking to me as though we're friends?" I was very glad to be rid of her, finally.

I really don't understand people who start chatting up random strangers. Since I'm easily overwhelmed by sensory input, I tune a lot of stuff out, including people I don't know, unless I have a reason to tune in... so all people I don't know tend to be practically identical automatons as far as I'm concerned. It's part of the reason I sucked at customer service jobs. If a customer ordered something, walked away, and came back a few minutes later, I wouldn't recognize them. Unless it was one of our regulars. All those mannequins look alike to me.

Now, there *are* contexts where I pay attention to unfamiliar faces, to try to remember them. Like meetups. But the grocery store while I'm shopping is not among these. And in those contexts, I get *really* wrong-footed, annoyed, and/or creeped out by people I don't know trying to chat me up for no relevant reason. It's not quite as bad as it would be for most people being chatted up by a lamp-post or a tree, but it's along the same lines.

Actually, I have talked with trees before... no lamp-posts, yet. But that would actually be kind of fascinating.

This was cross-posted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1058935.html
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