# I'm invisible **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647 "2008-06-12T01:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/1 "2008-06-12T01:37:21Z")
At least once a day, I’ll be walking down the street on a predictably straight path, and a fellow pedestrian will make a beeline straight into me. I’m good at swerving, so contact is rarely made, but still, I always wonder to myself, am I invisible? Tonight I went to pay for my dinner at a bar, and the waitress was momentarily confused; she thought I was a new customer. I probably could have walked out without paying. Anybody else here feel invisible? Can you see this post? ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/2 "2008-06-12T01:46:12Z")
I can see you! 🙂 Swerve? Swerve, schmerve! I think on the side walk you need to occupy your space – shoulders back! head up! stride! – and then drop a shoulder and plow into anyone who thinks they’re going to walk through you. A cheery “Sorry!” tossed over your shoulder should then suffice, even if you’ve knocked them on their ass. And the waitress was either overworked or a bit dim or both. Nothing to do with you. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/3 "2008-06-12T02:05:09Z")
It’s possible you are only intermittently invisible. That would explain the waitress eventually seeing you and the sidewalk thing. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/4 "2008-06-12T02:17:41Z")
It’s not so bad. After a while you get used to it. There’s a definite silver lining: if you don’t exist, people can’t ask you for favors. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/5 "2008-06-12T02:42:01Z")
If they’re young and attractive and of the opposite sex, and you’re a bit older and not getting younger and have no obvious signs of particular wealth or power on display, well, yes, you are invisible. Take heart, it happens to all of us eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/6 "2008-06-12T02:47:42Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] I can see you! 🙂 Swerve? Swerve, schmerve! I think on the side walk you need to occupy your space – shoulders back! head up! stride! – and then drop a shoulder and plow into anyone who thinks they’re going to walk through you. A cheery “Sorry!” tossed over your shoulder should then suffice, even if you’ve knocked them on their ass. [/QUOTE] Absolutely. Actually, you don’t even need to plow into them. Just brace yourself for the contact. They’ll go asprawlin’. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/7 "2008-06-12T02:48:37Z")
Why is the first post blank? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/8 "2008-06-12T04:00:13Z")
Where have I seen this before? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/9 "2008-06-12T04:50:30Z")
140 views. 9 comments. You _are_ visible to at least 6-7% of the population. Don’t worry Jodi. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/10 "2008-06-12T06:59:24Z")
Can’t help with the waitress, though I’d forgive waitstaff forgetting me if it was at all busy. Walking along though, do you make eye contact with the people who plough on without acknowledgement of your existence? I used to find that walking along in a crowded mall or on a footpath or whatever, if people were coming towards me - I was almost always the one to move out of the way whilst they kept walking apparently unaware that there had even been the possibility of a collision. I used to wonder if maybe most others were unobservant, oblivious or just rude. Or maybe I was so unremarkable an event that I barely constituted a blip on their various radars. Then I realized something. If I looked directly at some oncoming person’s face and they noticed it even momentarily, they never got out of the way. If I made sure I looked anywhere but directly at them, they often got out of my way or at least joined me in my sidestepping by stepping an equal distance in the opposite direction. I don’t know why this is, but it works for me 99% of the time. If I’m walking along and I get sick of dutifully avoiding every other human juggernaut, I begin to ignore them completely - just plough on like they do - and they start getting out of my way. My theory is that most people are (probably justifiably) wrapped up in their own little worlds and this is coupled with the fact that many people are, to some degree, lazy. Many such minds will see the strangers around them as: _person shaped obstacle, person shaped obstacle, person shaped obstacle_. Unless there is some degree of eye contact. Eye contact makes an impression on most brains, and they’ll probably then at least register you as another human. If their brains clock you noticing them, even just quickly or vaguely, something tells their body that you, being a sentient being and having noticed them, will obviously avoid hitting them of your own accord and they don’t have to do anything. If you ignore them, or appear to, their pre-occupied brains aren’t quite hip to your sentience, and they autopilot their way around another person shaped obstacle. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/11 "2008-06-12T07:37:35Z")
I find that if I go about my day screaming random obscenities, people seem to take note of me. Couldn’t hurt to try. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/12 "2008-06-12T08:14:03Z")
Yep, I’m invisible. I’m a middle-aged woman, w/a middle-aged (size 12-14) body. If it weren’t for my name-tag (see an earlier post for the company I work for), most people wouldn’t see/acknowledge me. But God knows I exist. That’s what counts. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/13 "2008-06-12T08:41:20Z")
Maybe if you took off the shroud, people could see you better…? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/14 "2008-06-12T12:35:06Z")
I too am invisible. People bump into me. People do not notice me. Someone who disputed the claim that I can make myself invisible went to a store with me. She could not believe how I could be undetecable. She realized it when even she, standing beside me, felt that “you were not there.” I’ve been known to scream “What am I? Fucking invisible?” in a crowd and have the people next to me literally jump, like they didn’t know I was there. As Father MulCahey on M_A_S\*H once said “I am frequently mistaken for beng absent.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/15 "2008-06-12T12:58:36Z")
I frequently seem to be. Once, in grad school, someone came into our office (shared by three grad students and a LOT of spare equipment, looked around, and sat down at my partner’s desk (our desks are end-to-end, facing each other), looked around again, and started writing a note. I cleared my throat, and he JUMPED! He had no idea I was there, not six feet away. It’s not like I was hidden - I was sitting at my desk. There was a large window behind me. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/16 "2008-06-12T13:11:12Z")
Here’s a post I wrote about that back in 02: > [@](#): > > Yesterday I set out to do several different chores. I left early with a song in my heart and a smile on my face. > > I have some problems with my back and a friend told me to try a waterbed, he said it would help. So I decided to go buy one. I have some original animation cels that needed to be framed, so I would go to the picture framing place. I also needed my oil changed. > > I first stopped at the bed outlet. I went and stood in the waterbed section waiting for someone to help me. I even tried the beds. I rolled around on one of them. > > Now, you don’t know me, so you can’t know that I am a rather large man. Both tall and wide. I am muscular from my days of weightlifting in college and round from my days of sitting behind a desk. It is hard to miss me. > > After 10 minutes of waiting in a store that was practically empty, I decided that they didn’t need my business and left. > > I went to the picture framers next. There was a woman at the counter and several workers milling about the store. The woman at the counter had another customer. I waited patiently, but the other customer was taking a lot of time. I looked around, the other workers seemed to not notice me. I decided to browse the book store and come back. A half hour later, the woman behind the counter was working with another customer. The rest of the people still seemed to be unable to see me. That’s when it occured to me: I must be invisible. I went out into the mall and tapped some guy on the shoulder. “Can you see me?” I asked in a friendly manner. He just stared at me, his eyes big and round (as if my voice came from no where.) He quickly walked away. AH HA! I knew that I was invisible. > > I left and went to have my oil changed. I figure that all the metal from my car negated the invisibility field, 'cause they helped me right away. (hooray!) I then went to another branch of the bed store. > > I stopped one of the workers and said “I’m here to buy a water bed.” Just like that. Right from the beginning she could tell that she had a sale. All that she had to do was help me. She answered one or two of my questions, but then a couple came up to her and asked her a question. She stopped helping me and wandered off to help them. I figure at that time, I slipped into invisibility mode and she musta forgotten that I was there. I left. > > And lastly, as I was walking to my car, a kid on a skateboard crashed right into me. He apologized and claimed that he didn’t see me. Now, as I said, I’m a large man, both tall and wide. He had to be able to see me. Or… > > I think that sometimes I become invisible. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/17 "2008-06-12T14:19:04Z")
I’m invisible when I’m driving sometimes. Some days everyone seems to pull out in front of me, I figure it out after the first couple times and expect it the rest of the drive. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/18 "2008-06-12T14:40:52Z")
[QUOTE=Buckler of Swashing] Can’t help with the waitress, though I’d forgive waitstaff forgetting me if it was at all busy. Walking along though, do you make eye contact with the people who plough on without acknowledgement of your existence? I used to find that walking along in a crowded mall or on a footpath or whatever, if people were coming towards me - I was almost always the one to move out of the way whilst they kept walking apparently unaware that there had even been the possibility of a collision. I used to wonder if maybe most others were unobservant, oblivious or just rude. Or maybe I was so unremarkable an event that I barely constituted a blip on their various radars. Then I realized something. If I looked directly at some oncoming person’s face and they noticed it even momentarily, they never got out of the way. If I made sure I looked anywhere but directly at them, they often got out of my way or at least joined me in my sidestepping by stepping an equal distance in the opposite direction. I don’t know why this is, but it works for me 99% of the time. If I’m walking along and I get sick of dutifully avoiding every other human juggernaut, I begin to ignore them completely - just plough on like they do - and they start getting out of my way. My theory is that most people are (probably justifiably) wrapped up in their own little worlds and this is coupled with the fact that many people are, to some degree, lazy. Many such minds will see the strangers around them as: _person shaped obstacle, person shaped obstacle, person shaped obstacle_. Unless there is some degree of eye contact. Eye contact makes an impression on most brains, and they’ll probably then at least register you as another human. If their brains clock you noticing them, even just quickly or vaguely, something tells their body that you, being a sentient being and having noticed them, will obviously avoid hitting them of your own accord and they don’t have to do anything. If you ignore them, or appear to, their pre-occupied brains aren’t quite hip to your sentience, and they autopilot their way around another person shaped obstacle. [/QUOTE] Interesting theory. I sometimes think I’m _not_ invisible, it’s just that KIDS TODAY have no respect, and they expect you to move out of their way. I’m talking about teenagers at the mall, mostly. It’s aggravating!!! ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/19 "2008-06-12T14:56:43Z")
Sometimes I inadvertently drive my invisible car. That sucks too. ---
**Author:** ![kittenlm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ce7236/32.png) [@kittenlm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenlm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647/20 "2008-06-12T16:35:16Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I’m invisible when I’m driving sometimes. Some days everyone seems to pull out in front of me, I figure it out after the first couple times and expect it the rest of the drive. [/QUOTE] I was just going to post this. Happens to me at least once a week. Hal even jokes that I must have hit the invisible button on the car again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-invisible/452647.md?page=2)