I am finding it difficult to talk to certain kinds of people

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skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 9:11 am

I think it's getting more and more difficult for me to spend time with people whom, let's just say, might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. I had to drop her off at the airport and we had to use her car because the way my car is set up, I can't take any passengers. So, I was to drop her off, drive her car back to my house where it would stay until she came back from her trip. Then I would pick her up at the airport on her return.

When she first showed up at my house, she had parked in front of it. I came outside to meet her, and she asked me if she should have parked in my driveway. I was a bit dumbfounded since driveways do not exist in my neighborhood. One side of the street is comprised of row houses, where all of the houses on the entire street are attached to each other, and the other side of the street is mostly sets of duplexes with very thin walkways between them which is where you keep your trash cans. The look on my face might have been surprising except for the fact that I have a fairly expressionless face unless I make an effort. I didn't want her to feel stupid, so I just said, "I don't have a driveway." Then she asked if she should have parked on the thin walkway between the two houses which would have required her to drive her car over the sidewalk curb and squeeze it into a space where it could not possibly have fit. Again, I was dumbfounded but I chose to ignore her question.

So now we are in the car, and I had gotten into the passenger seat because if I am in someone else's car and the car's owner is with me, I always prefer for the owner of the car to drive. But now we are sitting in the car, and she says to me, "I thought you might like to drive." I said, "No, I will drive when you are not with me." Then she said, "Well, I thought you would like to drive because you know the way." I said, " I don't have to be driving to give you directions and you have your GPS on." Then she said, "Well I thought you would like to practice." I said, "Practice what?" I have been driving for 41 years. She knows how old I am, and she knows that I drive. She then said, "This car has a push button start and I thought you would want to practice how to start it." I was like, what???? She cannot be serious! I wanted to say something incredibly sarcastic, but I decided to hold my tongue and gently explained to her that I understand the concept of pushing a button to start a car ignition.

Then she wanted to stop on the way for dinner. She insisted that we find a nice restaurant with really good food and high ratings. Personally, I don't care where we eat as long as the place doesn't have music that will make me have meltdowns and that the place is clean, and the food is decent and edible. But she wanted to make sure that the place was really good and that it had lots of stars in the reviews. Then she told me that she would also be happy to eat at MacDonald's. Again, my shock over this statement left me wondering if this was an episode of the twilight zone.

When we finally got to a restaurant and ordered, she said something else that I found particularly interesting. She was actually travelling overseas, and she told me that I had to remember that food in other countries is not American food. I was like, this is just getting too weird for me. I asked her why she felt she had to say that especially because she knows that I have lived and visited many countries all over the world all my life since I was an infant. And my own parents are not from this country, and I have been to our home country many times. When I asked her why she said that she responded by saying that her friend had tried to order garlic bread in Italy and was told that they don't have garlic bread in Italy.

We then had one last leg on our adventure to drive to the airport. She insisted that I drive because she wanted to see how I would drive the car and she wanted to make sure that I truly understood the concept of how to press the ignition button to start the car and turn it off again. I don't know why she felt she had to do that. I am wondering what exactly she was thinking. If she had not felt confident that I could drive this car before this morning, why did she ask me to drive her to the airport? What would have happened if I had not been able to understand how to start a car with a push button start? Would I have been left stranded at the airport? Would no one be able to pick her up on her return? Did she think that pushing a button is so much more difficult than turning a key in the ignition that it required some kind of practice session and mastery?

Then as I was driving, she said, "Do you think this car drives like a regular car?" I was like, what???? I thought to myself, you just drove this car for two hours and forty minutes, you know how it drives. But I didn't say that. Instead, I said, "It is a regular car." Then she said, "But it has a push button start." At that point I just gave up. I was so glad to get to the airport and drop her off.

I don't know, people like that really exhaust and frustrate me and I am doing my best to spend as little time with them as I possibly can. Can anybody else relate?


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Last edited by skibum on 10 Jan 2023, 9:29 am, edited 2 times in total.

kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2023, 9:16 am

I have an ignition button in one of my cars. My other car starts with a key.

Both operate like regular cars.



Silence23
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10 Jan 2023, 9:28 am

Maybe it was just her way of making smalltalk lol

Often when I socially interact with people I try to give them tips which I think may be useful to them (and I never considered that it could get annoying). Maybe that's what she attempted.



skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 9:33 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
I have an ignition button in one of my cars. My other car starts with a key.

Both operate like regular cars.
I know right??! !! I am pretty sure you didn't have to graduate from push button ignition school to operate it!


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skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 9:34 am

Silence23 wrote:
Maybe it was just her way of making smalltalk lol

Often when I socially interact with people I try to give them tips which I think may be useful to them (and I never considered that it could get annoying). Maybe that's what she attempted.
And that would be one more reason why I HATE small talk!! :lol:


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skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 9:38 am

But I think this person has issues. While we were driving, she couldn't hear her GPS because she called her son. So she was having a phone conversation with him and talking to me at the same time. She kept picking up her phone to look at the GPS map and directions. I asked her why she kept picking up her phone to look at it instead of just listening to the GPS directions. She told me she couldn't hear the directions because she was too engrossed in her conversation with her son, while also trying to converse with me at the same time. And she was concerned about MY driving????


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kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2023, 9:42 am

One has to concentrate on the road while driving.



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10 Jan 2023, 9:45 am

skibum wrote:
But I think this person has issues. While we were driving, she couldn't hear her GPS because she called her son. So she was having a phone conversation with him and talking to me at the same time. She kept picking up her phone to look at the GPS map and directions. I asked her why she kept picking up her phone to look at it instead of just listening to the GPS directions. She told me she couldn't hear the directions because she was too engrossed in her conversation with her son, while also trying to converse with me at the same time. And she was concerned about MY driving????



OH!! !! WiLD!! ! Thanks for telling me <3 :)


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skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 9:45 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
One has to concentrate on the road while driving.
That is always a good idea! :D


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Silence23
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10 Jan 2023, 9:49 am

skibum wrote:
She told me she couldn't hear the directions because she was too engrossed in her conversation with her son, while also trying to converse with me at the same time. And she was concerned about MY driving????


You should receive a medal of honor for enduring this psychological warfare against you :D


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rse92
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10 Jan 2023, 10:15 am

I'll bet everyone can relate. And I do mean everyone.



skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 10:16 am

Silence23 wrote:
skibum wrote:
She told me she couldn't hear the directions because she was too engrossed in her conversation with her son, while also trying to converse with me at the same time. And she was concerned about MY driving????


You should receive a medal of honor for enduring this psychological warfare against you :D
Too Funny!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2023, 10:19 am

That other person was a trip!

People are kooky sometimes....



skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 10:20 am

rse92 wrote:
I'll bet everyone can relate. And I do mean everyone.
LMAO!! ! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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skibum
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10 Jan 2023, 10:21 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
That other person was a trip!

People are kooky sometimes....
And they somehow all seem to find me!! :lol:


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IsabellaLinton
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10 Jan 2023, 10:33 am

I think your friend was highly anxious about driving to the airport or navigating the route, but she didn’t want to tell you. She wanted to appear confident. It was easier for her to treat you like you were an inexperienced driver rather than her.