absurd interaction I had the other day while walking to a dentist appt:

Approaching this sweaty, shifty-looking dude who kept plucking at his clothes, adjusting his belt, looking around. As he passes:

SWEATY DUDE: "hey bra, you mind if we switch shirts real quick?"

ME: "Uh. No, that's alright, I need my shirt."

SD: "Yeah, but, like, we'd switch, you could have this one." (gesturing at my rather nice t-shirt and then to his drenched Seahawks jersey)

ME: "No, yeah, I need this shirt. Sorry."

SD: "Shit, just, whatever."

I was surprised at how hard I had to work internally not to immediately just start switching shirts because the request was so unexpected and presented in such a tone to suggest that the notion was completely reasonable. Got me thinking, are people hardwired to follow requests without resisting, or am I just a pushover? Coincidentally, a similar interaction went down a couple days later wherein some dude walked up to my car while stopped at a red light and tried to convince me that I should a) give him a ride to the Seven Eleven south of us; then, when I pointed out that I was going north, b) I should give him a ride north; then when I pointed out that I didn't want to give him a ride anywhere, c) why was I so uptight; when explained to him that I wasn't in the business of letting strangers in my car and especially strangers who didn't care which direction they were going, d) how was he supposed to not be a stranger if I didn't let him in and get to know him. Again, through all of this I had to fight the voice in the back of my head saying, "why are you not following this request?" Again, pushover, or just human hardwiring?

In any event, I hate my neighborhood and can't wait to get out of here.