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Comfortable Around?
- Thread starter Nebulous
- Start date
I've reached the point in my life where I'm 'comfortable' around almost everybody.
If somebody makes me 'uncomfortable' it is usually because there is something wrong with them, and I'm "on alert" for trouble, and I have to decide whether or not I am going to intervene. Such as when we're out someplace and a loud drunk comes in or a punk starts to get mouthy without just cause.
The last time that happened, all I had to do was stop by the waitress station and ask her in a loud enough voice for the asshole to hear if there was any trouble she needed help with.
Something about having somebody that looks like me notice that you're not being nice sometimes makes those who have been causing trouble decide that their best possible course of action is to exit stage left.
If somebody makes me 'uncomfortable' it is usually because there is something wrong with them, and I'm "on alert" for trouble, and I have to decide whether or not I am going to intervene. Such as when we're out someplace and a loud drunk comes in or a punk starts to get mouthy without just cause.
The last time that happened, all I had to do was stop by the waitress station and ask her in a loud enough voice for the asshole to hear if there was any trouble she needed help with.
Something about having somebody that looks like me notice that you're not being nice sometimes makes those who have been causing trouble decide that their best possible course of action is to exit stage left.
I like, Doc, am comfortable around almost everyone. My profession, however, has made me wary of 'calls' I go on because you never know what you're walking into. I am very cautious and for a good reason. I have been spit on, punched, kicked and once cut with a broken beer bottle. So, yeah, the bottom line is I'm comfortable with everyone just as long as they don't step over the line where I feel threatened by them.
While I would certainly love nothing more than to jump upon the social-skilled merry-go-round, I full-heartedly realize that I am not. There are individuals that I am comfortable with, and then, there is the rest of the world. I wouldn't necessarily say that I am always "uncomfortable," but I am never as comfortable as I am whenever I am with my friends or family. There is a reason that I am a writer, ... the fact that I am bizarre and awkward actually propels itself as a strength. 
Nicholas McConnaughay said:... There is a reason that I am a writer, ... the fact that I am bizarre and awkward actually propels itself as a strength.
True enough. But after fifty years of being "bizarre and awkward" you get to be at ease with it almost anywhere and learn to 'fit in' enough to pass without drawing undue attention to yourself.
I have found it useful to keep the fact that I am something other than what everybody else is veiled until they notice that there are times when I can been seen taking notes during various events and situations.
I almost always have a couple of 3x5 cards and a pen in my pocket, and if we're going to be out all day, I have an old 'carry on' with odds and ends in it, including a small first aid kit, a radio, and some other 'junk'.
If they then try to force conversation I steer the topic toward the fact that if they buy a book, I don't charge for autographs.
