Joe90 wrote:
When I'm being paranoid about people noticing my every move like I'm the center of the universe, people tell me that my thoughts are irrational and that nobody notices, or cares, what I'm doing (unless I'm doing something noticeably strange but that's not what I'm talking about).
Today on the bus there was 2 boys (probably late teens/early 20s maybe), who were sitting a few seats in front of me (the seats between me and the boys were empty). I got ready to ring the bell for the next stop but the boys wanted the next stop too and they rang the bell first. I had my finger on the button ready to press so I thought I'd just press it anyway. But at that moment I caught one of the boy's eye and heard him to say to his friend, "she didn't have to press it again" in a sort of way that meant "she's so stupid or weird". Oftentimes I hear the bell ding more than once if more than one passenger is getting off at the next stop, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Sometimes the driver of the bus assumes only one passenger is getting off just because the bell only rang once, and doesn't bother to look in his mirror to see if anyone else's getting off too, and starts to drive off before you get to the front.
I know this probably sounds so trivial, but as a person with social anxiety, I will be worrying about it for a week.
While I don't ride buses very often, or ever with the kind you are referring to, so I can't relate there, I can tell you that whenever I'm in public, especially in a situation where I have to wait for food at a restaurant around a lot of people, I do get really nervous myself, like if I am looking around aimlessly, and I make eye contact for a moment with someone a few times without meaning to, especially if it happens to be a woman. So I think a lot of Aspies have our own anxiety in many situations in public.