and then some dude I passed on the sidewalk - trying to avoid him for social distance - said something to me which I can only assume was negative, since I turned head to listen and he said YEAH YOU HEARD ME which I hadn't, in fact.
@Leucrotta for someone with as much social anxiety as i have, this story is practically a koan <3
@Leucrotta Yeah, this was a frequent problem for me in Seattle especially, with the large number of... not entirely stable people out on any given crowded public street. I seem to either have a habit of accidentally annoying these people, or it happens to everyone and I just assume it's my fault.
@zebratron2084 oh good. That fits this pattern rather than me fucking up anything; like the guy who decided to go off on me for not having a lighter and whose chosen insult was that I um, had glasses and a hoodie?
@zebratron2084 Immediately I was seized with worry that I'd done something horribly wrong or that I'd be punished (implied justifiably), when in actuality I just didn't want to be less than 6' of sidewalk away from someone. Childhood's a crock of shit.