#324 Laughing at a stranger with another stranger

Neil Pasricha
They’re everywhere.
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They’re on every bus we ride, sitting in every doctor’s office, and standing behind every take-out counter. They’re beside us on the sidewalk, in front of us at the ballgame, and behind us at the movies.
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Yes, you all know who I’m talking about.
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Weirdos.
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Weirdos are holding kittens on leashes on the bus wearing giant fur hats, weirdos are talking gossip on their cell phone in the library, weirdos are wearing headphones and singing the Perfect Strangers theme song.
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And you know how I know weirdos are everywhere? Because we’re weirdos too, my friend. I’m a weirdo, you’re a weirdo, so let’s just accept it and move on.
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Now, nothing’s more fun than spotting a weirdo and trading the classic “Do you see what I see?” look with another stranger. Yes, when that connection snaps it’s like you’re suddenly surrounded by a close friend and chuckling at a little absurdity in the middle of the big absurdity of it all. Yes, laughing at a stranger with another stranger makes your sighting a little more real, a little more funny, and a lot more
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AWESOME!
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Photos from: here

56 thoughts to “#324 Laughing at a stranger with another stranger”

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  4. Ha this happened a week ago while waiting for the bus. A woman on a bike who swore she was a car, avoided the sidewalk and bike lane. Rode in the middle of the street like a car, stopped for the stop light and then signaled before turning. Perhaps she was being considerate but it just looked so…odd. I wasn’t going to say anything into the guy sitting next to me caught my eye! He even put his phone down to verify what he just saw :)

    1. It’s funny, in the UK that’s the norm. Probably because we lack cycle lanes!
      Yay for cultural differences :-)

    2. If she was turning left (if you’re in a right-hand drive country) then she was doing the proper thing, I mean especially if she was signalling! Cyclists turns left every once in a while too, and it’s difficult and dangerous to do that all the way from the bike lane, so you have to act like a car in intersections. While cyclists should use bike lanes whenever they can, they are not required to always be there. A cyclist is allowed to take the lane whenever they feel that would be safest for them.

    3. I don’t want to detract from your story at all (I LOVE moments like these!) but in the interest of promoting bicycle safety, I just want to make sure it’s mentioned that it often is much safer for bicyclists to ride in general traffic before making a turn, so that cars are aware of their presence – and that this is perfectly legal in most US states that I’m aware of. In fact, riding on the sidewalk is illegal in most states. (example: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/rules.htm)

      Just sharing a little cycling love and safety :) peace

      1. Yep! I figured she was being considerate and cautious, just since other cyclists here aren’t, it seemed verry odd. Really re-emphasizes the we’re all weirdos thing though

    4. Regarding the bicycle safety discussion. As a 16 year old when I first got my license, I backed out of my driveway, just put tge car in park because something was left behind. Next thing you know, Bam! A boy (4th grader maybe?) hit my car! Right over the trunk. His parents just gave him permission to ride without supervision and. I’d just gotten my dl. Both of us were ok and also to afraid to tattle so we found a nice shade of nail polish that hid the scratches perfectly. Awesome. =)

  5. When I think about it I guess you are right – we probably do appear to be weirdos to those who don’t know us – probably even to some who do know us – :-) Dave

  7. Hey Now! LOL We kitten “leashers” have good reason, those little buggers are squirmy! I get stares & compliments on my kitten on a leash b/c he actually walks on it! Yes we all are weird people walking around w/ other weirdos…the joy of life!

  8. I just wanted to let everyone know that Zachary David was born Friday at 4:15 by c-section, weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 21.25 inches long with a full head of black hair.

    and yes… Laughing at strangers with another stranger is great! I did a lot of that during my weekend stay at the hospital.

    5. Yay! Congrast, Bekah!

      Our first “announcement-to-birth” baby story here at 1000 awesome things!

      Glad to hear that you and baby are doing well and are healthy! :)

    7. Wow! Congrats, Bekah! I hope Zachary inherits your spirit, optimism, and passion for life. Congratulations and we’ll be eagerly awaiting your awesome observations of his life!

    8. Omg Bekah! wow congratulations! Neil HAS to see this and make his next post ‘When strangers celebrate a special occasion together’ or something like that :D Well done! I bet he is so cute xox

  9. How about something mildly related to this? During the holidays at my former job, we had a busy spurt. Three of us were working the counter, and I suppose a woman thought she was next, making the woman who was next VERY upset. When I waited on the angry woman, she spat that SHE was next, I took care of the customer politely as I could, and as the angry woman left, she turned to the woman and said “Enjoy your pie, BITCH!” and stormed out muttering. three other customers and I looked at eachother like “What just happened?” With a surprised trying-not-to-laugh expressions. It was a special moment.

    2. Oh dude. I worked the customer service desk for quite some time and this kind of crap happened a lot.
      Always cracked me up, especially when other customers came up to me to remark how crazy it was.

    1. GTFO.. seriously? We need to see this – it sounds AWESOME.. Post a video or something, because it sounds like it would be really beautiful..

      Unfortunately (in this one instance only), I live in San Diego, so I just went outside (it’s 75 degrees out) and threw boiling water in the air and it went up and came splashing down on some school children (oops)..

      1. hahahaha ummm…… what a shame for them? Ouch? Too bad we have to laugh at their expense…. and we DO need videos!

  13. It’s amazing how you seem to post something awesome the day it happens to me!
    Today is the first day of Spanish class (at a university) and there is a very older gentlemen also taking the class. We were passing around papers and he held on to the entire stack for 15 minuets and a guy beside me looks over as we’re both waiting to receive the stack and we both exchange smiles.

    Thanks for reminding me of awesome, day-to-day reasons to smile

  14. This happened to me last night! A crazy lady in fur came up to me in a diner and started talking to my friend and I about her life, the universe and everything. She talked to half a dozen other customers on her way out, and once she finally left most of the diner (including the staff) lost it & dissolved into a fit of giggles at our shared crazy moment :) It was awesome.

  15. I was in a Wal-Mart with my friend once and there was this woman at the next register who was, I assume, dressed to go clubbing. My friend was busy checking out, so even though I frantically tried to get her attention so she could see the scary, large, fringe-bedecked pants-less woman also. After I’d been giving her crazy looks and nodding my head in that direction she finally said “what?!” loudly. She did not get the hint. The lady was still kinda close so I didn’t want to say anything, but I didn’t need to because the guy in line behind us said “I think she wants you to check out the woman over there who should be buyin’ herself some pants.” She never actually saw the lady, but it was still super awesome.

  17. Reality TV might give this right to judgementalism but you might might enjoy life more were you to consider a little more and react a little less.

    In fact, we might enjoy life more were you do some of that ‘thinking’ thing. It aint fashionable but hey…

  18. That happens a lot on vacation. One time I was on vacation and there was this lady walking three cats. There was someone standing next to me, and we exchanged a look like “What the heck?!?” it was AWESOME!!!!

  19. Normally, I like your work, but this entry strikes me as incredibly judgemental. Laughing at “wierd” strangers: NOT awesome. At all.

    1. This post isn’t condoning making fun of people. It’s about being amused at the variety of different people in the human race, not being judgmental. Besides, we’re all weird in one way or another.

  23. well, i do love the belly laughs, though not so much at another’s expense because that can really hurt someone’s “essential glow”.
    If they are involved and are laughing with us at self, a whole other experience! And the pics posted are absolutely precious and priceless!

  24. In the town where I went to college, they’re always having some sort of downtown shenanigans … so one night, a couple friends and I were walking around at some sort of outdoor festival type thing and we ran into this guy who had a WOLF on a leash. A real wolf. One of the guys I was with stopped to ask him about it and he was explaining about wolf packs (this was the summer that The Hangover came out, so keep in mind that any/everything wolf-pack-related was already kinda funny by default) and how this wolf was part of his pack and how it’s perfectly legal to own wolves as long as you don’t own more than three.

    Giggling with a crowd of strangers at the bizarreness of the situation definitely occurred that night.

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  26. What would be truly awesome is if I could share individual posts on FB or with friends, rather than just send a link to the whole site. This one is so great! I totally know this moment. So rare and always precious. I could say, “Look for #332” (or whatever), but it would be even more awesome if I could share each post. And maybe I can already and I just don’t know how?! Thanks!

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  31. got on the train last night and im seated across from 2 people, a cute looking girl and some goofy guy sitting a little bit from her with a goofy grin the whole time. i look over at her and she rolls her eyes and chuckles. i had to look down not to laugh out loud.

  32. I did this on the bus today and knew that 1000 Awesome Things would have a post about it. I couldn’t wait to get back from the concert and check :)

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