On being talked by strangers and asking strangers


in daily life and on the web (please click Read More for details)

I wonder if the other people are talked by strangers as often as myself.

My latest experience was Monday this week, in a DIY shop (here called 'Home Centre'). I like to go a shop selling tools, wooden materials, sometimes pets, and call it my market research.

I went to one of the shops in my list to look for something inquired one of my clients. (Yes, this time the research was genuinely for work!) I was walking between the shelves containing scales, rubber bands etc, and there was a man around 60 years old looked at me and said 'Excuse me, where can I find plastic flexible pipe?' Well I knew where safety shoes, gloves with rubber covering, or paints were, but of course I had no idea what he was talking about. Well, hold on, I thought, I'm not a guy here anyway. I told him 'please ask the shop staff' as politely as possible.

Same kind of thing happened once in a book store: a man asked me where the latest issue of 'Philosophy Today' (or something like that). I knew where the Playboy was, but never heard of the magazine he was asking. I also suggested him to ask for the help from someone of the bookshop, not a frequent visitor (who hardly buys) like me.

While I was in the UK, I was asked where to change the tube etc not only by the travelers, but also by UK residents (possibly from other places). I think I didn't look like a traveller, but I am sure I obviously seemed to be a foreigner. In these cases I had to pull out my A to Z and looked up the way for the inquirers if I couldn't give them a clear direction.

From the experience above, I assume people in search for something do not see how you look, they only see your face. I don't mean they see whether you look nice or not, I think they are afraid to be ignored or barked back by asking something they are supposed to find by themselves. I myself regard asking a stranger to be the last resort.

Before starting this blog, I took quite a long time to study about the software iBlog. I looked up other blogs constructed by iBlog, and if the blog-master is generous enough to expose how his/her blog is constructed, I thankfully used the information. I have never directly asked these people about tips regarding elaborating my blog.

WWW is very open, but is very wild as well. I have to help myself.

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The photo above is an example of the typical Japanese autumn sky. The cloud like this is called 'sheep cloud' or 'sardine cloud'. In English, I prefer sardine!

Posted: (木) - 10 9, 2003 at 10:13 PM          

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