Let's pretend you get on the bus and it's SUPER crowded. (CLAUSTROPHOBIA! !
! ) The only spot that's open is between two strangers. (J, thinking: Dammit!
) So you sit down between two people you never met, and everyone is fine. Everyone's keeping to themselves, (They better) no one's making eye contact, it's perfect! (sigh of relief) Sure, your shoulders are touching, (umm, no thank you) but that's just what happens, that's part of the bus-going experience, [*groan] YOU POOR PERSON!
But then, at the VERY next stop, Aisle Seat Guy gets off. (okay) So now, you and Window Seat Guy are sitting right next to each other. (okayyy) But since you're in the middle, (OKAYYY) you have to be the one to decide.
. . (SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME) Do you move or not?
(AAAAAAAAH) I honestly don't know what the right thing to do in that situation is. . .
(stupid James) I'm conflicted. Because if you move it would be silently telling the other person, "HEY YOU'RE DISGUSTING (but then again, isn't he/she? ) I CAN'T STAND HAVING OUR SHOULDERS TOUCH ANY LONGER AND I'M GLAD TO FINALLY GET AWAY FROM YOU!
UGH! ! !
! ! " (YASS) But on the other hand, if I was the Window Seat Guy, I would want the Middle Seat Guy to become the NEW Aisle Seat guy.
I wouldn't see moving as rude! I would just want his gross, disgusting body (cue redrawing of body) as far away from me as possible. That's not rude!
But, on the other OTHER hand, (JAMES IS A MUTANT) maybe I'm overthinking everything, and most people don't even mind being this close to another human, and they aren't struggling socially, I don't know! (sounds impossible) Now, imagine that same situation. .
. but with urinals. (Women don't get this joke.
This joke is sexist) If you're in the middle urinal, do you move halfway through to the other urinal? Because I would! Are you supposed to talk to people when you're sitting two inches away from them?
(You seem to be sitting NO inches away from them) I always felt like I should say SOMETHING, like, "Hey, did you see the game last night? (NOP) I didn't. I was too busy drawing cartoons.
" But, I realized that, this is a two way street. I'm worried about not talking to someone, but they're not talking to me either. (They hate you.
) We both agree that there's this unwritten contract between us that we're not even going to look at each other. (What if he/she's blind? ) It got me thinking about strangers and specifically, how I treat them.
And how I can make money off of them, HEYOOOO! --- I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. That was a joke.
(careful m8) For most of my life, I would go out of my way to avoid talking to people. I would stay in my lane, mind my own business, no eye contact! If everyone's using a urinal, I'd have to pee tomorrow!
Yes, I'm lonely. (glad we are in agreement) But now that YouTube's the thing, I'm interacting with strangers more often than I've had to in my entire life! (J: Gosh darn it) So I've been thinking a lot about strangers, and first of all, I think the word "~stranger~ " is already an insulting label for someone just because you don't know their name.
"Oh, I don't know this person? They're a 'Stranger', they're ~strange~. I'm the normal one.
They're the FREAKS. They probably murder people with an axe! " That's always the go-to profession of a stranger, an axe murderer.
But the people you see throughout your day are all humans (or NOT) with their own hopes and dreams, and some of them may hope to kill you, but you'll never know because you didn't ever take the time to get to know them! (stab) So I think that the people you see throughout your daily life aren't strangers. They're potential friends.
(YAY! ) Except for the weird ones obviously, stay away from them. (AWW) And yes, I'm telling you to judge people based on their appearance.
They're the ones that chose to wear anime shirts in public, okay? ! (LOL) So, back to the bus scenario.
I'm sitting right next to this fellow human being (you're human? ) So far, there's not a single reason why I should dislike this person. But I don't know why, if you put him and me on a bus next to each other I want him as far away from me as possible.
(me too) Just stop touching my shoulder! (AGGH! ) So that was the last time I took the bus.
Unfortunately, that's not the only place you meet strangers. . .
One time, I was at Home Depot and I was looking for jumper cables, (ooh, trippy! ) and I couldn't find them anywhere. (blind James) And I don't know if I'm the only human that's like this But I will try everything in my power to not talk to a sales associate.
(AWKWARD) I guess it's cuz I know they get paid minimum wage and their life sucks and I just want to leave them alone and not make their job any harder than it has to be. But asking employees for help isn't even bothering them that much. In fact, I think it's part of their job?
(GENIUS) Like what's the worst thing they're gonna say? "UGGH! You don't know where one specific item is?
! Everyone else knows! Did you even look?
! They're in the jumper cable aisle! Idiot!
" (SLAP! ) No one's gonna think that. So, feeling desperate, I mustered up what little courage I had (and it's VERY little) and swaggered up to someone wearing an orange vest and said, "U-uh excuse me.
Do you know where the jumper cables ar-" "I don't work here. " "Oh, you don't work here. .
. ? " And then he walked away.
. . (To the tune of The Duck Song) And then he waddled away, waddle, waddle.
And then the very next day, BUM! BUM! !
BUM! So I think the logical thing to do in that situation would have been to find someone who DOES work there? But I left the store because I didn't want to run into that same guy again.
(reasonable) But I also bought a hammer because I didn't want people to think that I stole something. (dodgy James) So. .
. (starting engine) Oh yeah. .
. And by the way, if you wear an orange vest to Home Depot, (They're construction workers. It's a habit) just expect people to ask you for help!
Same goes for people who wear red shirts at Target. You'd think I'd learn from my mistakes, but no, I have a bunch more examples. When my book came out My publisher said that it was going to be carried at Barnes & Noble.
And I thought that was SUPER DUPER cool and wanted to see my book in the wild. Not to buy or anything, just to have a look at it. So I took my friend Adam from SomethingElseYT, and we went to the local Barnes & Noble and started our search.
We looked in the humor section, didn't find it. Then we checked the new release section, It wasn't there either. Then we looked at the best-selling section then the religious section, but we couldn't find the book anywhere.
So either the publisher lied, or they had already sold out, but just to be sure I asked one of the workers, "Hey, do you guys have a book by. . .
TheOdd1sOut? He kind of looks like this. " And the worker typed something out on his computer and said, "Oh, yeah We got those in the back.
We just haven't put them out yet. " So then he went to the back room, brought out a copy and handed it to me saying, "Here you go, kid! " And I thought "Well, frick!
" (LANGUAGE) I can't just hand it back to the guy and say "Oh, no, that's okay! I didn't want to buy it. I just wanted to have a look at it.
" Do you know how inconvenient that would be? (not at all) So the only less awkward option I could think of was to buy my own book and you know what? I'd get a couple cents back from this purchase, so it wouldn't have been a total loss!
But Adam, being the more sensible one, said, A: "Dude, this is ridiculous. You-you have to come clean. " So then he went to the worker and said, "So he actually uh, wrote this book.
He just wanted to get a look at it, like, in the wild. " (even Adam sounds confused) And the worker said "Oh, that's so cool! " (pen clicks) "Do you want to sign our copies?
" And then I thought, 'Well, hold on! ' You're not even going to ask me for my ID? How do you know I actually wrote this book and I'm not some guy trying to deface someone else's?
And then the guy gave me a whole stack of my books, and I signed them all. Last story before I go, I was in the hallway of a building, and me and this "potential friend" crossed paths, he said "Hello", and I was going to respond with, 'Hello,' and, 'How's it going? ' But I combined the two and ended up saying, "How?
" And then I jumped out a window and fell to my death! I can't rationalize that behavior. Maybe I spend too much time on the computer I'm not used to looking at real people's faces, but I'm trying to change!
Don't get me wrong, going to conventions and meeting fans has helped me a lot with talking to people. Granted, those conversations are usually one-sided, and a real stranger won't already know who I am, but they've still helped me. (You're hopeless) Now, you might be expecting me to give you advice on overcoming social anxiety, but if you watch this video, you know I'm not the most qualified to give that advice, but I'll try my best.
(not gud enough) I know it's hard to feel confident, and I'm still working on it, but you have to understand that we're ALL people, and we ALL have things that we're struggling with. And in reality, we're not all watching or caring about every little thing that other people do. We're all too busy worrying about what other people think of us.
So with enough practice and believing in yourself, You can show the world your true colors. And, I think you'll find that people are a lot nicer than you think. So if you're the middle seat guy on the bus and you have to decide whether or not to move Do whatever you want.
No one cares. Just stop touching my shoulders!
