Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
let a stranger steal so many hours of your day by feeling frustrated.
At first, I've been thinking that it was my fault for putting myself in that position: Riding public transit. Letting my guard down just because it was an empty carriage. Assuming people wouldn't cause problems early on a Sunday morning. That I should just drive my car. Isolated from other people.
But that isn't the living that I want. Anyhow...Life is mostly how I react to things unexpectedly thrown my way. This lady gave me an invitation to lose my temper. I didn't accept it, and I literally walked away.
It had nothing to do with you at all. She'd have done it no matter who was sitting there. An unbalanced person craving attention which she probably was not getting from her companion. An unbalanced person who enjoys excitement and hoped for some from you. Not because it was you. Only because you happened to be the only one there for her to challenge. There really are people who love a fight - so long as they can just watch. Remember how children would drop their play and run to watch two who had started fighting? They'd shout "Fight! Fight!" and the crowds would come. Then there are people who do not like to be looked at; don't like eye contact. Were you looking at them as they walked past? We had a little clique of girls on our street who were always starting fights. Ask them why and they'd say "She looked at me." Some "adults" never outgrow their infancy.
Solution? Just what you did. Consider the source and move on.
She was the one with the problem, it really sounds like she is struggling with mental health issues.
One of these days she will do that to the wrong person, and karma will step in.
At first, I've been thinking that it was my fault for putting myself in that position: Riding public transit. Letting my guard down just because it was an empty carriage. Assuming people wouldn't cause problems early on a Sunday morning. That I should just drive my car. Isolated from other people.
But that isn't the living that I want. Anyhow...Life is mostly how I react to things unexpectedly thrown my way. This lady gave me an invitation to lose my temper. I didn't accept it, and I literally walked away.
I agree with Gramma. This woman is taking up way too much of your energy. Meanwhile, she probably barely recalls what you look like..
I have a bad habit of doing the SAME thing. I don't stand up for myself in situations and then let them fester away and bother me while the culprit has moved on to the next thing....
I think you should read up on the Law of Attraction. I know a ton of people think it's mumbo-jumbo, but I noticed in your original post that you come across sorta "victim-like". Think more positively! It is NEVER your fault that someone is a jerk. And you CAN control what you attract into your life based on your thoughts and outlook.
I'm learning this now!
Ignore her, pray or meditate on her mental health and well-being and thank the Universe (God or who/whatever you believe) that it was just a thumbs down and nothing violent.
This is either a mentally ill person or an otherwise healthy person in the throes of a funk. Perhaps she was experiencing paranoia and read something into your expression or posture or perhaps your very existence in her field of awareness. Regardless, she made her personal issue, whatever it was, the someone else's problem, and a total stranger at that.
That you are allowing this to ruin your day says more about you than about the idiot on the train, though. Her behavior is so irrational that no conceivable response would have done anything to change the situation for the better and could well have escalated it. Quit second-guessing yourself over nothing.
I would say as others have said an unbalanced person craving attention and she did not get it from you so she probably went on about her day and did not think twice about what she had done to you and you should have done the same shook it off and moved on . One day you might see in the newspaper she did that to someone and they took serious offense to it and something bad happens . Who knows , I think you should just forget it and move on .
None. I'm just an average mild mannered person on the street. I blend in and don't try to stand out.
I figure that anything I might have done or said to this lady would've been mild. So I let her think it was okay to continue her behavior to other people in the future. Let karma handle it for me. She does this to the next person and she could end up with a horrible reaction.
Seems to me if her gesture was deliberately aimed at you the only reason she did it was to get a reaction from you. By ignoring her you deprived her of that reaction she wanted, so she loses. I don't really think you can lose by ignoring someone that's acting like such a jerk.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
