DO strangers stop you on the street to ask you directions? Do people sit next to you on the bus and strike up a conversation, even if there are 20 other empty seats available? Or how about old women in the doctor's surgery, telling you their life stories while you wait?
If this sounds familiar, you've got one of those faces! I have one of 'those faces' and when I step outside my front door I can't move for the randomers stopping me to chat.
“I'm going into town to meet my sister-in-law,” said the old lady next to me on the bus last week, eyes wild and staring. “She thinks I have a problem with her, but I don't. I DON'T.”
An elderly man in a hospital waiting room confided in me that he thought he had a hernia and tried to show it to me. I had made the mistake of catching his eye, you see. And later on in yet another hospital waiting room, a smiley pregnant woman walked right up to me the second I entered the room and told me she was having a C-section on Christmas Eve.
Funny thing is, I abhor small talk, I can't do it and always lapse into an awkward silence so they're really picking on the wrong person. But every single time the randomers sidle up to me and start yapping.
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I have a theory about this however, honed over many years of experience. I think because I'm not naturally glamorous and am generally rather unkempt people think I'm less threatening and am more likely to chat to them. I've actually seen people bypass my glam, fashion conscious sister who always wears heels and perfect make-up, to come sit next to me in my sloppy t-shirt and jeans and start to chat.
Short of getting up and running away every time I'm approached, I have no idea how to avoid all of this. I don't want to be rude and ignore the looper chatting to me, but neither do I actually want to talk to them. Help!
Do you have one of those faces and if so, how do you cope?
