No, it isn’t, which I suppose means that you never talk to yourself.
[self-edited to remove the meanest thing I’ve ever said on this board]
Maybe you should print this thread out and bring it to therapy next week. Looks like someone has some serious anger management issues to work on.
Get a fucking grip, JET. You disgust me completely.
Zette
What does it mean to be a fish?
Is there life after fish sticks?
Does the ocean go on forever?
Is that sort of what you were thinking of, Gary? 
And hey, JET didn’t do any of those things he mentioned. He just thought about them. That’s OK by me. You people calling him a freak of nature can go fuck yourselves.
Finally someone makes a point I agree with in this thread. Thanks Stoid!
Failure to respond to someones attempts to start a conversation doesn’t make an explicit point that you are uninterested in conversing. Maybe you didn’t hear, maybe you didn’t understand. If the person trying to start a conversation were psychic, and thus able to read your desire to be left alone, they wouldn’t have spoke up in the first place.
I must say that expecting the woman to know that you didn’t feel like talking to her wihtout actually telling her so seems horribly arrogant to me. People expect some sort of response when they ask a question, and if they don’t get one they feel confused, and react strangly. A simple “I am enjoying this article, thanks” and moving over two seats could have nipped the whole problem in the bud.
If people striking up conerversations with you really really bothers you that much I would second hte headphones idea. YOu don’t even have to get a music player–just headphones, and you can tuck the cord into a pocket or something.
Necros,
I really don’t mind that he thinks about mincing people into dog food, as long as that stays in his mind…but this:
Is amazingly “fly off the handle”-ish. Your statement would have been fine at “I don’t like talking,” but to add the intensity of “SHUT THE FUCK UP” is just plain mean, rude and completely unnecessary.
THE WOMAN IS THERE FOR THERAPY. And perhaps she’s suffered abuse all of her life, and here comes “I know all” Jeremy to tell her to SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Nice. Just curious, did the therapist hear you verbally accost his/her patient JET? I’m sure that would have been an exchange they’d want to discuss.
And listen, I hate talking to strangers. HATE IT. I hate telephones, I hate when people talk to me on the bus, I hate small talk in general. That’s why I have a walkman at all times. Try it out.
jarbaby
Yeah, yeah. He could have handled it better. He could have been nicer when this woman insisted on bothering him and invading his privacy. If some old lady called you at home five times one night because she “just wanted to talk,” I’m sure you’d be cool with that. But, with the incredible ire on this board directed toward telemarketers, maybe not. Many people here would have no problem telling one of them to fuck off. How is this very different?
And so is JET. And yet this woman keeps bothering him…and bothering him…and bothering him, even after he has sent pretty much universally-acknowledged signals that he doesn’t want to talk to her. And then she asks if he’s schizophrenic? WTF? I would have had the same mental reaction, but wouldn’t have let it pass my lips, because I suspect I’m a have a little better level of social adjustment than JET. I probably would have stared her down, though.
I gotta go with Lynn on this one. She should have taken the hint and left him alone.
The bit that bothers me is where she asks “Are you schizophrenic?” That’s a rude question, deserving of a cold, firm response. I certainly hope this woman improves her social skills.
I can’t approve of this response: “…just shut the fuck up…”
Bullshit. JET acted like a complete psychopath. Part of being in a society is interacting with other people. When you go out in public, you don’t have an absolute right to not ever be irritated or bothered or talked to by someone when you don’t want to be. There is obviously a level of rudeness/irritation that you can’t ignore, but JET wasn’t even close to it. The minor rudeness on her part is so completely dwarfed by the freakish sensitivity and hostility on his part as to be inconsequential. He comes across like the sort of person who starts a knife fight when someone accidentally cuts in front of him in line.
I also think it’s interesting that the fact that she’s homeless seems to make her sub-human in his eyes. Well, asshole, I’d much rather have someone like her in our society than someone like you. You need serious help.
AlbertRose, from the description in the OP, the lady may well have been looking for some common ground to start a conversation about. Rather like “Hey! Do you have lymphomia like me?” in the oncologists office. She sounded a bit unstable, which means there is an obligation to be more civil to her, not less. Dosesn’t mean that JET has to be her best friend, just that he has to recognize that a) she is perhaps unreceptive to subtle social clues and that b) Non-subtle dosen’t have to be mean.
::braces himself for possible flaming::
There is a female person who hangs around places like this one particular computer lab and one particular tv area. 75 percent of the time she’ll start up conversations with me.
Rather, she’ll start talking, and I’ll literally not make eye contact . . . I’ll turn myself as far away from her as politely possible . . . intently watch the TV screen even if it’s something I’m not particularly fond of.
Now, I know my body language skills suck some pretty smelly cock, but even I am not that inept. If I were talking to someone who just was not paying attention I think I might possibly be able to get the hint that this person wasn’t interested. But she’ll go on. And on. And follow me.
She also has this problem with general hygiene. Her hair is . . . well, worse than mine. She smells weird. Not exactly BO, not exactly mold . . . some stale combination. And she fits some of the more annoying characteristics of a person who doesn’t seem to conceive of how others see her. More power to her, sure, but it gets mighty annoying.
However, I’m not about to throw coffee at her or anything. I just nod and smile (literally), and try to give short, end-of-discussion answers except on the sporadic occasion that something she says interests me.
And she fits a few characteristics of Tardive dyskinesia, which is always interesting.
Curious how some people here insist on holding me to a higher level of social standards than they expect of anyone else. Case in point, giraffe calls me a “complete psychopath”, not that I deny that, but so was the lady talking to me. Yet it’s ok for her to be rude and obnoxious, but if I respond in kind I’m the one who’s out of line?? C’mon, you can’t set different standards for the same type of people. That’s outright hypocrasy.
I’m impressed that at least SOME people defended my side, even if they didn’t agree with me 100%. Ok, the coffee thing would have been too much over the top. Point is, she pushed a major button, so I pushed a whole bunch in return. Action = reaction. If you think that’s out of line, then you are a slave to your morality and I pity you.
Jeez, Ned Flanders has more spine than some of you people. Haven’t you ever heard of the amazing power of “metaphor”?
Striking up conversation in a public place with someone not interested in conversing: mildly irritating, not psychotic
Telling a story about reacting furiously to same interaction, adorned with pathological imagery of hurting and killing the offender: psychotic
Slight difference, I’m afraid. If it makes you feel better, had the woman who so violently accosted you with her vicious chit-chat started a thread in which she wished she could pitchfork your corpse onto a pyre we’d treat her the same way.
**
Man, you are so deep. I wish I wasn’t a slave to my morality – it sounds really great. Screaming at some stranger who had to nerve to try to (gasp) talk to you. You! The most important man in the world!
Sounds to me like you have way too many buttons.
That’s hardly screaming at the woman. The most you could say is that it was curt. A curt response to a rude question is not that out of line in my book. And it is rude to inquire about the medical conditions of strangers, even if you are starved for conversation. Had he actually went off on her, maybe terms like ‘psychopath’ would be appropriate.
If I did half the stuff I thought about doing, you’d be able to hang that title on me…
Ah yes, that JET wisdom in it’s fullest
JET, with pretentious statements like that, I think I can see why you were such a popular guy at school.
By the way, the whole idea of a persons morality is that it should determine their actions. If you can’t grasp that, you’re just another spoilt little child upset that the world doesn’t revolve around you, “and I pity you”.
and I would never dream of starting up a conversation. It usually seemed to me that most of the people were thinking about what they were going to talk about, or were in great psychic pain. I would also not classify it as a “public place.” Although the occasional mail carrier or water cooler repair person comes through, most of the people in a waiting room are either receptionist/secretarial type people, or waiting for appointments.
The woman who tried to talk with Jeremy’s Evil Twin is apparently lacking in a social skills. While it could be that JET also lacks skills, he was not the one behaving inappropriately here. And if someone asked me if I were schizophrenic, I might also have been rude, or at least asked them if they really think that is an appropriate question to ask a total stranger.
JET, what did your therapist think about this incident?
Spider Woman: We didn’t really talk about it. He knows how people in general set me off so all he did was refill my coffee for me instead of letting me get it myself like normal (actually I asked him to do it, it’s not like he had to intervene or anything.)
Gary Kumquat: I don’t have a problem with anyone determining their own morality, it’s when they FORCE their morality on other people that I get pissed off. You call me an immature child who thinks the world revolves around me, well don’t pretend you don’t think the world revolves around YOU just because your programming happens to mesh with the other 90% of worthless human scum. Actually it’s more like 50%, pertaining to this thread. I haven’t bothered to do a statistical analysis or anything.
Live and let live. Or kill and let die. Whatever.
Spider Woman, accept my assurances that I respect you and enjoy your presence on the board, but here I disagree. JET’s behavior was nothing even remotely resembling appropriate. Responding to conversational gambits, even rude ones, with rudeness doesn’t get anyone anywhere worthwhile.
Stoid had it right. It’s possible to be polite and direct without going ballistic. And surprisingly effective, in my experience. As Death once said, “It’s just as easy to be nice as it is to be creepy.” And, in the long run, better for you and the people around you.
And as for this…
Young man, if I am a slave to my morality then you are a slave to your lack of same. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction in physics. To attempt to apply such things to this situation is merely a pitiful attempt at self-justification from a boy who’s uncertain of himself. I think, as you mature and gain self-confidence, you won’t see a need to respond to such inquiries with hostility. That’s my hope, at least. Not all people mature or gain self-confidence.
Her rudeness (and she wasn’t actually rude until she inquired about your condition and even that might be excused given the setting) does, in no way, justify your own rudeness. The fact that you responded not only rudely but with hostility only makes your part of the affair worse than hers.
Finally, chalk me up as one of those willing to take the step of striking up conversations wherever I might find myself. The connections between people, whether deep or shallow, profound or mundane, provide a means of exploring the joy of humanity. Each of those connections helps us break down the barriers that lead to the disaffection that modern life can cause in many people. Even something as idle as talking about the weather can lead to a worthwhile friendship or just a more pleasant day.
It is, I agree, rude to continue such gambits after being clearly shown that they aren’t welcome. We’re on the same page there. And that’s a place to start a connection between the two of us.
So tell me, how are you this fine morning?
How fucking DARE YOU try to start a conversation, Johnathan? Don’t you shove your fucking humanity down my throat, dickleash! I’ll kick your ass for less. 
I’m just kidding.
Seriously though, JET, while I still understand that it’s not always a blast to talk to people, especially those who don’t get the hint about your unwillingness to acknowledge them (I, mysel had to fight off the advances of a seemingly neckless ‘little person’ who didn’t speak English this weekend)…
I must inform you:
you terrify me
And I know that’s what you like to hear. And I’m fulfilling your “greatest evil mastermind” fantasy by saying it. You’re wringing your hands right now, twirling your handlebar moustache…but it’s the truth.
My husband scolds me all the time for being “so untrusting, and so scared of people”. He tells me I should be more friendly, say hi to people on the street, take a chance, give someone a compliment on their sweater, offer someone a quarter when they need it; it makes for a better world. He says, “No one’s going to shoot you for smiling at them.”
I think I may print this thread out as an example of why I don’t. I’m afraid that said person that I try to be nice to will be JET, and he’ll throw coffee in my face.
kudos.
jarbaby