Walking across the street

[Danoff]

I wear my rag to soak up the sweat in my helmet.

There are alternatives I'm sure.

I'm not putting myself at a disadvantage.

You wrote quite a lot about how people treat you negatively... not sure how you reconcile that with this statement.

 

[mister dog]

I remember the day i first shaved my head clean when i was 17 years old. Next day all of a sudden a cop stopped me "because i drove my bycicle a tiny bit over the crosswalk", and commenced to state that "he was sure that he would see me again one day!"

That day i realized that your looks basically put you in a "stereotype category", and people that don't know you will keep forming an image of you around that stereotype. It's only normal tough as i do exactly the same...

Has it's advantages also tough, being suspicious or tough looking. Strangers will always respect you a lot more at first if they are a bit afraid of you.

 

[Kent]

I'm a normal looking white guy - not particularly threatening. I've had women do this to me too, and I don't take offense. If I were black, I'd probably assume it was because I was black.

/Thread.
Sometimes people can read too deeply and find meaning in the smallest of actions. Carrying on in life thinking that every person who crosses the street carelessly around you is trying to avoid you will probably be the start of a long life of perceived slights.
Do yourself a favor and forget about it, for all you know she saw a friend or was trying to kill herself, or hell, you might have missed the superman hero moment she was setting you up for!

Btw, having a red beard, blue eyes, and very short (shaved) head of hair gets me horrible, hateful looks from just about every minority in the world- such is life.

 

[mister dog]

btw, having a red beard, blue eyes, and very short (shaved) head of hair gets me horrible, hateful looks from just about every minority in the world- such is life.

And rightfully so!

 

[KSaiyu]

I don't mind it, I put it down to being a guy. I don't even mind being stopped by the police. What I do mind is not being stopped by police because then it makes me dwell on why I've been stopped in the first place. To explain, I've been stopped whilst walking around relatively calm areas of North West London (once a couple of times in a few months) but was never stopped once in the cesspool that is Elephant and Castle (sorry any SE Londoners) when I lived there almost a year.

Nothing will ever beat the excuse I was given the first time I was stopped driving:

"You were looking in your mirrors a lot"
"I just passed my test"
"We ran your car's number plate and it's registered to a wanted murderer who used an axe in the north of England"
"It's under my dad's name"
"......"

 

[BobK]

(once a couple of times in a few months)

Sorry, but... what does that mean?

 

[KSaiyu]

End of 2012 I got stopped while walking in space of a few months. Generally it's longer spaced than that.

 

[BobK]

Ah okay, thanks. Now it makes sense, thanks.

 

[lbsf1]

Some people are friendly some arn't. I work in a small newsagents and you would not believe the number of different reactions saying "Morning" will get you, ranging from a huff to a grunt, then progressing to a mumbled greeting, if you are even more lucky you get a pronounced reply back or maybe just maybe the person will have a quick conversation with you as you are serving them.

Some people are just moody, deal with it.

 

[BobK]

Some people are friendly some arn't. I work in a small newsagents and you would not believe the number of different reactions saying "Morning" will get you, ranging from a huff to a grunt, then progressing to a mumbled greeting, if you are even more lucky you get a pronounced reply back or maybe just maybe the person will have a quick conversation with you as you are serving them.

Some people are just moody, deal with it.

I will give that whole range of responses in a single day. It's largely a function of what fraction of my morning's quota of coffee I've had so far.

 

[Lucas]

It's particularly annoying over here. Media makes it look like nowhere is safe in this country, so every time you walk right beside a woman (not even an old lady) who is entering her house, you can feel she's in a hurry to close her door before you enter with her.

Perhaps you are a tall guy.