For example, I am in a parking lot. It is night. A man comes and sits down next to my stuff for no reason. He could have sat anywhere else and I have a bad feeling about him. I say, "hello!" so he knows that I'm watching my stuff. He starts a conversation. He starts telling me I'm the coolest person he's ever met while asking me personal questions, and refusing to take "it's a long story" for an answer, he offers me food but won't let me take him up on it. I'm being too friendly to him because I don't know if he's a threat, and I don't want to leave my spot, I don't have another good spot picked out to hang out. He keeps trying to get me to smoke a cigarette, and contradicting himself. Then something comes up where I ask a question about the area and he, instead of answering, says, "You should leave this state. You should go to Colorado or California." which are two of the main places I was considering going! This really, really spooks me. How did he know? I have a hard time getting him to leave, too. When he leaves I want to scream or cry, not normal for my interactions with creepy men, but something just seems so wrong here. What is going on? How did he know where I've thought of going?
because those are two of the most common places people want to move to. he sounds like he was dealing with some kind of brain damage or neurological disability. maybe schizophrenia or altzheimer's, i dunno. anyway, sounds like he wasn't quite connecting with reality. a lot of homeless folks are homeless because of this kind of disability, so you run into a lot of weird disjointed conversations chatting with them. (moving this thread to advice, btw. it's not very general.)
@jacktrash "because those are two of the most common places people want to move to." Thank you for that! He was not homeless and did not seem to have a neurological issue. At least, his affect and conversational flow did not seem at all odd. He seemed more like the way people try to smooth-talk girls, which is what I think was happening. But I was not sure how he knew where I was thinking of going, and now I know, so that seems way less surreal! Thank you! Does the thread not belong in General because it has an odd topic, or because it had a question?
because it was a question and about your particular experience, rather than being a topic for general conversation.
An appropriate place for sharing random anecdotes is a personal blog thread in Bijou Blogette. I've also noticed you're making a lot of threads for simple questions; try the Super General Advice thread for those.
yep, a blog thread's your best bet. 'fishing' goes pretty fast, and tends to be fairly light subject matter; there's nothing wrong with sharing personal upsets there, but it probably won't get much response and the thread might move past it faster than you want. then again, it's possible you'll start an in-depth discussion that'll be fascinating for everyone. it happens! if you specifically want eyes to see it, but it's more of a personal thread than an advice thread, there's always 'howling into the caring void'. only mods can see your thread there, and we do make an effort to read everything, and respond if we can. there isn't a formal system for who reads what when, so it might take a while. but it's your best way to vent TO someone. as always, there are no rules. i moved your thread because it's more likely to get good responses here, not because you were Doing It Wrong. :)
