Interesting interaction with a stranger in public a few days

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Australien
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04 Oct 2011, 10:00 pm

My workplace has a "casual Friday" convention; I was wearing black jeans, white sneakers, a white long sleeve t-shirt, and a black Metallica tshirt over that. It was a cold-ish spring day, so I was wearing a more-or-less appropriate amount of layers.

I left the office for lunch, and was accosted on the street by a Wilderness Society registration hawker. Our interaction went something like this:

Her: "Hi! How are you?"
Me: "Good. How are you?"
Her: "I'm fine thanks! What would you say is the number 1 environmental issue affecting the country right now?"
Me: *thinks* "Breeding."
Her: "...human breeding?"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "...well, I suppose that is a problem, we have a lot of people, what is it, 23 million? Well, the Wildnerness Society isn't currently lobbying against human breeding, but.."
She then attempts to get me to sign up. I refuse because I don't wish to put my name implicitly on petitions that I haven't had the opportunity to read yet, which is the essence of what they do.
Her: "Umm, are you a student?"
Me: "No."
Her: "Do you have a job?"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "What's your job?"
Me: "IT"
Her: "Umm..I hope you don't mind, and I'm not just saying this, but...I kind of had a feeling you were in IT!" *laughs*
She attempts to get me to sign up again, which I again refuse, for the same reason. I proceed to lunch.

"kind of had a feeling (I was) in IT"? I never told her anything about computers. Is it likely/possible she's picking up on Aspie traits and has never heard of AS, ascribing it to "geek" or "IT" instead? I didn't really want to hang around and quiz her about that.

Am I just bringing something totally "out of left field", as they say, or can any of you relate/have any relevant opinion on this?



MountainLaurel
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04 Oct 2011, 10:18 pm

Quote:
Is it likely/possible she's picking up on Aspie traits and has never heard of AS, ascribing it to "geek" or "IT" instead?


That's what I'd assume given the scenario as you wrote it.



samuraiBSD
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04 Oct 2011, 10:29 pm

Yeah, based on the way you list out the conversation, it seems like a possibility. We seem common in IT, though, and I've heard AS alternately called "geek syndrome", so it's not really all that difficult to make the conclusion that AS traits are often thought to be geek/IT traits too.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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04 Oct 2011, 11:55 pm

I got the impression she thought you were a student because that was the first thing she asked. If she really had a feeling you were in IT, why didn't she ask if you worked in IT first thing?



KathySilverstein
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05 Oct 2011, 12:44 am

Teach her to ask open ended questions like that, lol
Ya, I think she just meant it as a IT/geek kind of thing. Not the most appropriate comment in the world, but that's probably what she meant. She should have showed you what you were signing.


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arielhawksquill
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05 Oct 2011, 12:44 am

I think the giveaway was probably the way you referred to human reproduction as "breeding", as if they were animals. ;) People who are concerned with that issue usually use the word "overpopulation".



LittleBlackCat
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05 Oct 2011, 8:53 am

Personally, I would take it as a compliment :)



kc8ufv
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05 Oct 2011, 11:50 am

arielhawksquill wrote:
I think the giveaway was probably the way you referred to human reproduction as "breeding", as if they were animals. ;)


Are you saying humans aren't animals? If not animals, what are they, plants?



Mahlon
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05 Oct 2011, 12:10 pm

Myself... I'm a Fun-Guy, not a plant or animal :P



Burnbridge
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05 Oct 2011, 12:35 pm

I think you are entirely correct. Human breeding is a nightmare destroying the planet that must be stopped.

http://www.vhemt.org/



Wayne
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05 Oct 2011, 1:30 pm

Burnbridge wrote:
I think you are entirely correct. Human breeding is a nightmare destroying the planet that must be stopped.

http://www.vhemt.org/


No, human breeding isn't really happening enough. Idiot breeding, however, is completely out of control.



SyphonFilter
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05 Oct 2011, 11:34 pm

arielhawksquill wrote:
I think the giveaway was probably the way you referred to human reproduction as "breeding", as if they were animals. ;) People who are concerned with that issue usually use the word "overpopulation".
This.



arielhawksquill
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06 Oct 2011, 3:37 am

kc8ufv wrote:
arielhawksquill wrote:
I think the giveaway was probably the way you referred to human reproduction as "breeding", as if they were animals. ;)


Are you saying humans aren't animals? If not animals, what are they, plants?


Certainly they are, but English makes distinctions between human and non-human animals. For instance, non-human animals may be referred to as "it", but humans never are. It's a nuance of language that it's rather Aspie to miss.