I don't know if you've had the privilege to meet this type of people. Random Folks are defined as those self-confident (or crazy) enough to go up to complete strangers in a random fashion and attempt to start conversations with them. What's even worse is that these Random Folks look just like the rest of us Normal Folks. So you would never know you were talking to a Random Folk until you're stuck and forced to nod and smile while they ask you a million questions that they have no right to ask. There's convergent evidence that this isn't just isolated to one person.
Case I
It was ten minutes before the calculus exam. I was waiting in an overly crowded space outside the gym with my acquaintances when this short girl comes up to us and starts asking us how to do these derivatives and whether you think the exam will be hard etc. None of us know her.. we just know her by her extremely annoying voice. So we all look at each other awkwardly and try to answer her questions. But she has moved on to invade another stranger's privacy, leaving all of us feeling . Less than ten seconds later, that stranger has that deer-caught-in-the-headlights all over his face. But before he can respond, she's already gone to talk to other strangers.
Case II
This happened more recently. I was waiting for the biology lecture with similar acquaintances. Then this guy from Sudan comes up to us and starts asking things like "Are you guys in first year?" That was a fair question. Then he moves on to "Where are you guys from? Hong Kong? Singapore? Japan? Korea? Malaysia? China?" We don't even make eye contact with him when we answer. And then he lets on that he's from Sudan. Do we know where that is? So I play dumb and say Middle East even though he was as dark as coals. Then he scoffs and says Canadians don't know anything! Don't they teach anything in Canadian schools? Sudan is like the largest country in Africa! Too bad all of us are pretending to be totally engrossed in Raptors scores or in my case, the 5-panel "Zits" in the comic. So creepy guy from Sundan finally gets the hint and stops talking. He would've started talking to other strangers, but he didn't because we were the only ones there.
Random Folks. Creepy as hell. They must've went to a high school with a very forgiving population. Otherwise, they would know that the social rules of engagement in high school also applies to university and life in general. But I guess Random Folks would make great street reporters.. that is, if they don't alienate us Normal Folks first.
Posted by droid/alpha_pluses
at 1:25 PM EST
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