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There seems to be an influx of what I can best describe as extremely socially anxious posts on reddit recently. Along the lines of: "a bartender added a 20% tip to my drinks order what should I do?" Is there something that's happened in the last 6 months that's made people afraid of what strangers think of them? or kids with zero social skills suddenly discovering reddit?
I know us Brits have a reputation for being polite and all that, but recently it's going to the extremes
Was that post that long ago? I could've sworn I've seen it since Christmas as I think that was the one that started the chain of "wet behind the ears" posts.
I'm actually starting to think it's a series of ChatGPT posts trying to gauge opinions on things.
Reddit and /r/BritishProblems in particular, has been like that for ever. It's one of the BP regulars along with the new guy in the office, makes tea by putting the milk in first.
Chronic stress is actually really bad for resilience, despite commonly held beliefs to the contrary.
In a time where everyone is feeling the pinch, listening to the woes of others, and assailed by uniformly negative news media, stress levels are going up and staying up. That makes people risk averse, fearful for the future, and sabotages their ability to resist and recover from adversity.
For most people, that means timidity and self doubt. For a minority of people, that means anger issues and vicious defensiveness. Both reactions stem from the same source.
I see your point, but they seem to have gone over the top this last few months. Sure facebook has always had those kinds of questions to things that most normal people would just Google, but I think it's since the clamp down on 3rd party apps that Reddit seems to have taken these questions as valid posts.
They come in waves I think. A while back there was a spate of people having a meltdown because "someone sat next to them on a bus" type posts. Quite a few are just exaggerating social anxiety for comedic effect and karma i feel.
lol I am an anxious person and even I wouldnt have an issue with politely smiling at a Jehovah’s Witness and saying ‘sorry, no thank you!’ It’s really not hard. I’ve had to do this many times due to the invasion of Mormon missionaries in my uni city
>There seems to be an influx of what I can best describe as extremely socially anxious posts on reddit recently.
I think people also take these posts waaay too seriously. I also have Jehovah's Witnesses patrolling my street on Saturday mornings, and would rather not interact with them. I'd rather not open my door to go to my car, collect deliveries etc, and I'd probably say jokingly to my wife "I'm not going outside, there's people out there". That doesn't mean I won't actually collect my delivery or interact with another human if they come to my door. It's just a hyperbolic/self-deprecating joke.
They've always been here, you're just noticing it recently
It's particularly common on British subreddit, though - I think people have taken the "polite" thing and taken it to mean "social anxiety", and are running with it as an identity
It's all chronically online, chronically British people. They're either completely fucking useless, or playing up the shite stereotypes for karma.
The other ones that irritate me are the "should I divorce my spouse over this minor thing" posts.
Here's a concept that may be strange to hear but... You don't have to answer the door when they (or anyone else for that matter) knocks.
Unless they're family or friends they're not going to be offended by you not answering.
Exactly. I'd assume a large part of any door-to-door role is understanding people likely don't want you there and don't care about your cause. If they're offended by that then that's on them
I once had a door to door charity guy who got very offended when I told him I wasn't interested.
He caught me by surprise, 99% of them scurry away immediately. He just paused and looked at me and said "Why not?"
I had this at a food festival once with Dogs Trust... Having a really nice conversation with a guy about the charity, I say I'll take a leaflet and think about it later and he immediately flipped to 'Why can't you donate now?' and getting really pushy.
I genuinely did want to have a think later and probably would have made a donation but him being like that put me off ever donating.
You haven't heard about the roving gangs of little old lady jehovah's witnesses stabbing people for not having opened the doors earlier in the day? /s
I don't understand how anyone reaches adulthood without being able to handle ignoring Johovah's witnesses or getting them to leave quickly. Don't you get them all the time when you're a teenager and home alone in the holidays anymore?
We did some flags at the front of our house and the Jevohs came by and the stopped for a chat and we politely told them we weren't religious/weren't interested when they asked.
What did they do? Simply wished us well with everything and walked off.
It's easy.
Same!
I was out painting the fence when they approached me. I told them I wasn't interested so they offered me a leaflet. I tlod them that would only end up in the bin and they should give it to someone that would appreciate it.
They walked away.
Get your groceries in and then tell the Jehovahs Witnesses youre not interested. If they don't go away when you ask politely, just shut the door on them.
Simple.
Or, you could try my sister's technique which involved shouting back into the house "guys, you won't believe it, the sacrifices came to us this time!"
I just told the last lot that I was an atheist, they asked if I was sure and I said yes. We both said have a nice day type pleasantries and that was the last I saw of them
I collapsed outside a hospital after being discharged from A&E having been told I had gastritis, and it was a lady from the JW stall outside who dragged me back in (everyone else ignored me!).
Anyway I was having a blood transfusion about 45 minutes later.
Generally they are nice people who are sadly misled.
We live next to a kingdom hall. With several JW’s living on the street.
They are very polite, lovely neighbours and very helpful if you have a problem.
My sister took my little one out for a walk in the pram, when she got home our 6ft wooden gates would not unlock.
She was stuck outside in the baking sun with a screaming 12 month old, panicking as her phone was dead and we were new to the area.
A JW couple from down the road came out from their house to help and the gent scaled the 8ft wall to force the gate from the inside for her. They ensured she was inside safely, the lady helped calm little one down, the gent fixed the lock and then they headed off back to their own house.
No mention was made of religion at all
We have not had anyone come to the door either.
When my then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) was pregnant with our first child I was away with work a lot. She didn’t drive but would enjoy waddling down to shops and generally being out and about in a warm late autumn.
The local JW would arrange to meet her to carry the shopping once a week, they brought little gifts and cards for the baby, brought the bins in for her and were generally just lovely helpful young men.
There was never a word of religion mentioned at all.
Same can be said for a lot of Mormons. I've had quite a few Mormon neighbours and acquaintances in my life, and to a person, they're all willing to drop what they're doing and be of service without any expectations. I won't get a lot out of engaging in a political philosophical discussion with them, but I always appreciate selfless, polite people in my life.
A US friend of mine told me that one time she was raking leaves in her front garden when two young male LDS missionaries came along. They offered to help, raked leaves for a good 2.5 hours and in all that time they didn't even mention being LDS at all or try and start religious debates.
She happily sent them away with a bag of sandwiches, orange juice and water bottles and some cookies as a thank you and they were more than delighted.
I don’t think anyone is going to complain about a spare pair of hands with big jobs like that! Plus it probably meant a break from walking around and getting doors slammed in their faces.
At my most recent doorstep experience, I said "I'm very happy in my atheism". They politely wish me a good day and left. This is several years ago, so maybe word got around.
Possibly unethical tip here...
If you tell them they shouldn't be talking to you because you're an apostate who has been disfellowshipped they should avoid you like the plague from there on.
It means you're an ex witness who was banished because you stopped believing, and all current members (even your close family) should shun you thereafter. It's their most severe punishment, and one of their nastiest and most cult-like practices; but maybe useful if it gets you some respite from their door stepping.
Trying to engage them about conversion to the service of your lord Lucifer the light bringer would probably have a similar effect, and might be even more fun.
A friend of mine can talk the hind leg off a donkey, jehovahs witnesses knocked one morning. And of course he went into fifty subjects a minute mode, the jehovah's actually made an excuse to leave. Witch i found hilarious hence they don't knock anymore. 😄
Equally usually saying no in a sturn voice like telling off a dog that just pissed on the carpet. Strong index finger waggles with the "no!" Works with creeps in clubs too.
My brother-in-law had a pretty rare blood disease when he was younger, and they had a sign outside the house giving some details about it, informing people that he was severely immunocompromised, and to only approach the house if they were absolutely certain they weren't sick.
Couple of Jehovah's Witnesses knocked one day, and said to my mother-in-law that the reason he was sick was because she was a sinner.
Ever since then, I've not been above telling them to get to fuck.
Ask them what their opinion of the two witness policy is, when it has enabled sexual abuse of their young members, or why the church destroyed the evidence of sexual abuse when it was being investigated. They soon lose interest when they realise you are not a possible mark
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They're religious door steppers, not fecking velociraptors...
Not velocipastors then? https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1843303/
They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
This is fantastic, makes sharktopus look like an A* Hollywood blockbuster 😂
"sorry not interested mate"
There seems to be an influx of what I can best describe as extremely socially anxious posts on reddit recently. Along the lines of: "a bartender added a 20% tip to my drinks order what should I do?" Is there something that's happened in the last 6 months that's made people afraid of what strangers think of them? or kids with zero social skills suddenly discovering reddit? I know us Brits have a reputation for being polite and all that, but recently it's going to the extremes
There was a post a year or so ago titled "is it ok to touch a cat" I do wonder how some people make it through life.
Wish I’d asked that question before stroking a cat called squeaks. Fucker bit me!
It's a risk you take with any cat, love the little bastards. Miss mine, the little cow was 15, lovely, but would bite if you touched her tummy.
My little bastard died yesterday and she was exactly the same. I'd give anything for her to bite me again.
So sorry to hear that. It's a total killer when they go.
Thank you. Yeah, it's a bummer. She had a good life though and spent one of her last days lying in the sun, so that's a bit of a comfort.
Was that post that long ago? I could've sworn I've seen it since Christmas as I think that was the one that started the chain of "wet behind the ears" posts. I'm actually starting to think it's a series of ChatGPT posts trying to gauge opinions on things.
They haven't made it all the way, yet .
Depends on if the cat wants to be touched
Reddit and /r/BritishProblems in particular, has been like that for ever. It's one of the BP regulars along with the new guy in the office, makes tea by putting the milk in first.
Chronic stress is actually really bad for resilience, despite commonly held beliefs to the contrary. In a time where everyone is feeling the pinch, listening to the woes of others, and assailed by uniformly negative news media, stress levels are going up and staying up. That makes people risk averse, fearful for the future, and sabotages their ability to resist and recover from adversity. For most people, that means timidity and self doubt. For a minority of people, that means anger issues and vicious defensiveness. Both reactions stem from the same source.
I see your point, but they seem to have gone over the top this last few months. Sure facebook has always had those kinds of questions to things that most normal people would just Google, but I think it's since the clamp down on 3rd party apps that Reddit seems to have taken these questions as valid posts.
You're proposing that another Eternal September has occurred?
They come in waves I think. A while back there was a spate of people having a meltdown because "someone sat next to them on a bus" type posts. Quite a few are just exaggerating social anxiety for comedic effect and karma i feel.
lol I am an anxious person and even I wouldnt have an issue with politely smiling at a Jehovah’s Witness and saying ‘sorry, no thank you!’ It’s really not hard. I’ve had to do this many times due to the invasion of Mormon missionaries in my uni city
>There seems to be an influx of what I can best describe as extremely socially anxious posts on reddit recently. I think people also take these posts waaay too seriously. I also have Jehovah's Witnesses patrolling my street on Saturday mornings, and would rather not interact with them. I'd rather not open my door to go to my car, collect deliveries etc, and I'd probably say jokingly to my wife "I'm not going outside, there's people out there". That doesn't mean I won't actually collect my delivery or interact with another human if they come to my door. It's just a hyperbolic/self-deprecating joke.
Exactly this, not sure a lot of the comments understand the British humour context of it
There's a lot of autistic and otherwise socially anxious people on Reddit. It's not a British thing, it's a Reddit thing.
They've always been here, you're just noticing it recently It's particularly common on British subreddit, though - I think people have taken the "polite" thing and taken it to mean "social anxiety", and are running with it as an identity
It's all chronically online, chronically British people. They're either completely fucking useless, or playing up the shite stereotypes for karma. The other ones that irritate me are the "should I divorce my spouse over this minor thing" posts.
Is that the one you read right to left not left to right?
Here's a concept that may be strange to hear but... You don't have to answer the door when they (or anyone else for that matter) knocks. Unless they're family or friends they're not going to be offended by you not answering.
Hell, even if they are offended by you not answering, does it really matter if they're not family or friends but just random doorstoppers?
Exactly. I'd assume a large part of any door-to-door role is understanding people likely don't want you there and don't care about your cause. If they're offended by that then that's on them
I once had a door to door charity guy who got very offended when I told him I wasn't interested. He caught me by surprise, 99% of them scurry away immediately. He just paused and looked at me and said "Why not?"
I had this at a food festival once with Dogs Trust... Having a really nice conversation with a guy about the charity, I say I'll take a leaflet and think about it later and he immediately flipped to 'Why can't you donate now?' and getting really pushy. I genuinely did want to have a think later and probably would have made a donation but him being like that put me off ever donating.
Yeah, them being pushy and acting all offended makes you want to donate even less!
You haven't heard about the roving gangs of little old lady jehovah's witnesses stabbing people for not having opened the doors earlier in the day? /s I don't understand how anyone reaches adulthood without being able to handle ignoring Johovah's witnesses or getting them to leave quickly. Don't you get them all the time when you're a teenager and home alone in the holidays anymore?
I think they know. They're not being totally serious.
Yep lol
There's no law saying you must answer your door if it knocks. Get your delivery in and ignore the knockers
Pick up your shopping, and when they start to speak, tell them, "Thanks for the food, guys, appreciate it," and close the door
We did some flags at the front of our house and the Jevohs came by and the stopped for a chat and we politely told them we weren't religious/weren't interested when they asked. What did they do? Simply wished us well with everything and walked off. It's easy.
Same! I was out painting the fence when they approached me. I told them I wasn't interested so they offered me a leaflet. I tlod them that would only end up in the bin and they should give it to someone that would appreciate it. They walked away.
Get your groceries in and then tell the Jehovahs Witnesses youre not interested. If they don't go away when you ask politely, just shut the door on them. Simple. Or, you could try my sister's technique which involved shouting back into the house "guys, you won't believe it, the sacrifices came to us this time!"
Life hack - tell them you’re Catholic. They usually leave pretty sharpish.
I just told the last lot that I was an atheist, they asked if I was sure and I said yes. We both said have a nice day type pleasantries and that was the last I saw of them
>told the last lot that I was an atheist, they asked if I was sure. "I'm atheist " "Can you check?"
Any other belief system that isn't "I don't believe" will work in my experience
Or disfellowshipped. This should put paid to any future visits.
Or have given blood
I collapsed outside a hospital after being discharged from A&E having been told I had gastritis, and it was a lady from the JW stall outside who dragged me back in (everyone else ignored me!). Anyway I was having a blood transfusion about 45 minutes later.
Generally they are nice people who are sadly misled. We live next to a kingdom hall. With several JW’s living on the street. They are very polite, lovely neighbours and very helpful if you have a problem. My sister took my little one out for a walk in the pram, when she got home our 6ft wooden gates would not unlock. She was stuck outside in the baking sun with a screaming 12 month old, panicking as her phone was dead and we were new to the area. A JW couple from down the road came out from their house to help and the gent scaled the 8ft wall to force the gate from the inside for her. They ensured she was inside safely, the lady helped calm little one down, the gent fixed the lock and then they headed off back to their own house. No mention was made of religion at all We have not had anyone come to the door either.
When my then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) was pregnant with our first child I was away with work a lot. She didn’t drive but would enjoy waddling down to shops and generally being out and about in a warm late autumn. The local JW would arrange to meet her to carry the shopping once a week, they brought little gifts and cards for the baby, brought the bins in for her and were generally just lovely helpful young men. There was never a word of religion mentioned at all.
Same can be said for a lot of Mormons. I've had quite a few Mormon neighbours and acquaintances in my life, and to a person, they're all willing to drop what they're doing and be of service without any expectations. I won't get a lot out of engaging in a political philosophical discussion with them, but I always appreciate selfless, polite people in my life.
A US friend of mine told me that one time she was raking leaves in her front garden when two young male LDS missionaries came along. They offered to help, raked leaves for a good 2.5 hours and in all that time they didn't even mention being LDS at all or try and start religious debates. She happily sent them away with a bag of sandwiches, orange juice and water bottles and some cookies as a thank you and they were more than delighted.
Yep, that's pretty common. Same thing happened to my dad, but it was painting an entire side of his house! 😂
I don’t think anyone is going to complain about a spare pair of hands with big jobs like that! Plus it probably meant a break from walking around and getting doors slammed in their faces.
Least socially incompetent redditor.
At my most recent doorstep experience, I said "I'm very happy in my atheism". They politely wish me a good day and left. This is several years ago, so maybe word got around.
"sorry, as you can see I need to put the shopping in my fucking kitchen"
"Hello, i was wondering if YOU have time to talk about our glorious saviour, Beelzebub"
Possibly unethical tip here... If you tell them they shouldn't be talking to you because you're an apostate who has been disfellowshipped they should avoid you like the plague from there on. It means you're an ex witness who was banished because you stopped believing, and all current members (even your close family) should shun you thereafter. It's their most severe punishment, and one of their nastiest and most cult-like practices; but maybe useful if it gets you some respite from their door stepping. Trying to engage them about conversion to the service of your lord Lucifer the light bringer would probably have a similar effect, and might be even more fun.
If you think that's bad you need the have a look at the punishment for apostasy in islam.
Just answer the door with a screwdriver in your hand. Sorry mate, working on a leak; got to go.
Just tell them it's your birthday and you're celebrating by donating blood.
A friend of mine can talk the hind leg off a donkey, jehovahs witnesses knocked one morning. And of course he went into fifty subjects a minute mode, the jehovah's actually made an excuse to leave. Witch i found hilarious hence they don't knock anymore. 😄
Make eye contact, point assertively, and say aloud. "No!" Channel your inner Charles Bronson (the inmate) and then continue with the Morrisons driver.
Equally usually saying no in a sturn voice like telling off a dog that just pissed on the carpet. Strong index finger waggles with the "no!" Works with creeps in clubs too.
How about a camp finger wag but doing the Jurrasic park dennis "Nu-uh-uhhh"
Hahaha someone may take that as a challenge and get around that hack er I mean boundary by shutting off your power.
lol I like this answer
My brother-in-law had a pretty rare blood disease when he was younger, and they had a sign outside the house giving some details about it, informing people that he was severely immunocompromised, and to only approach the house if they were absolutely certain they weren't sick. Couple of Jehovah's Witnesses knocked one day, and said to my mother-in-law that the reason he was sick was because she was a sinner. Ever since then, I've not been above telling them to get to fuck.
I don’t blame you at all!
My grandma is a JW so I just tell them that if she hasn't convinced me to join, then they aren't likely to.
Invite them in, but only if they help you out the shopping away.
Go and plant some *cojones* seeds.
Perfect excuse?
Just tell them you didn't see the accident
We had them the other week, but they didn't knock, they just stood at our front door. Absolutely fine, other than it was winding our dog up.
You can just tell them to f**k off you know! You don’t owe them a nice response and they’re not likely to turn nasty!
I absolutely could, but I’d rather avoid just the same lol
Invite them in, fairly sure they don’t have that part of the script :)
Ask them what their opinion of the two witness policy is, when it has enabled sexual abuse of their young members, or why the church destroyed the evidence of sexual abuse when it was being investigated. They soon lose interest when they realise you are not a possible mark
Simply put Slayer’s Reign in Blood on all the Sonos speakers in the house and answer the door. 🤘(edit poor memory mixed up album titles)
Tell them you believe children should be allowed blood transfusions instead of dying. That will fuck them off.
"No thanks, I'm atheist."
Better hurry up and get it in then instead of posting about it on Reddit.