Social niceties and the like
Living in a social world as most of us do presents some interesting situations that necessitate a lot of thought and some quick-thinking. Most of the time, if you do manage to move the old cogs things will work in your favour. Weird and awkward situations arise when people just go in willy-nilly and ignore the requirement for some rational deliberation.
There are two blogs I have read recently that touch on this issue. Lilu at Livit Luvit talks about people being idiots and not walking on the right hand side of the path. She is in the Northern hemisphere so I will forgive her; I also totally understand her frustration as I experience it often here when people don’t walk on the left hand side. Over at xkcd they write about urinal protocol and the importance of calculating your position. Obviously as a lady I don’t have this issue however it is something that has always fascinated me and I have queried the partner about at length. What do you do if someone stands next to you when they have other places to go? Would you ever tell them they aren’t being thoughtful if they did? Have you ever accidentally peed on someones shoes?
Two social things that shit me are when I am in a toilet stall in a row of empty toilet stalls and someone goes into the one next to me. Dude, I am trying to poo in peace! The other is when someone places themselves in the seat next to me when I am practically alone in a cinema. I experienced this a few years ago when I was the ONLY person in the theatre waiting to see ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ (I understood why after I watched it) and an older couple sat directly next to me. Maybe they felt sorry for me, but I was fucking pleased to be there alone – I did not require company. To top it off, the man had a voice synthesizer which was pretty awesome but very distracting. Every time he laughed I had to struggle not to laugh. Awkward.
I try reaaaaaly hard to think about other people in these circumstances and how I would want the situation to play out. If only everyone was as awesome as me.
Which awkward social moments do you believe require more brain power than most people utilise?
Tags: awkwardness, using the noggin'
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:52 am
Haha, thanks for the shout out! As I was walking to work today, the sidewalk was COMPLETELY EMPTY and yet some asshat decided he would walk one pace behind me, at my shoulder, for the better part of a mile. Where is your social decency, people?? That is so not okay, and also, so freaking WEIRD.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 am
“Every time he laughed I had to struggle not to laugh. Awkward.”
LOL omg I would have done the same!
September 5th, 2009 at 3:27 am
That is kind of beyond the realm of social weirdness – it is just plain creepy! Did you have a nice perfume on? Or perhaps you were carrying an irresistible cinnamon bun? Or may, just maybe, he was INSANE!
September 5th, 2009 at 3:28 am
It was so difficult – he was a sweet man and he was laughing at stuff his wife was saying, but it sounded like the guy out of South Park that has a voice synth. Hilarious!
September 15th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Oh gosh that reminds me of my friend who went to another friend’s house for dinner, and her grandpa with a colostomy bag was there. They were having chilli, and through the whole meal his bag kept rustling from the gas… you don’t want to laugh at their misfortune but…