Creepiness vs. Human Nature

Alright, so I get really annoyed by the fact that often, when people are just being nice, they're perceived as being creepy. Except I'm a total hypocrite because there is a guy who keeps stopping by my place of employment who is, most likely, just being friendly, but he creeps the heck out of me. Though, in my defense, he is rather stalker-ish. Like, stopping by at other times and asking people when I'm going to be working. And he keeps asking about UAA meetings so I think he might have an Asian fetish. Like I said...wicked creepy. But I think I'd rather be hypocritical and suspicious than be open-minded and optimistic and get assaulted at 11:30 at night in a building empty minus one other person, who might not even hear me scream. Yeah.

It's so odd, though, how what we construe as "creepy" or "awkward" or "weird" is often not that unusual or creepy at all. I mean, when it's some stranger you don't know from Adam...well, then I can understand the misunderstanding - how are you supposed to know what he's really like, what the real intentions and personality are? But when it's someone you've met, or know through a friend...well, odds are, the person is just being friendly. Say you've just met a friend of your best friend that you've never met. Any relatively friendly person is going to try to get to know him - try to talk to the person, ask questions, and just get acquainted with him in general. How annoying is it when the unknown friend is completely unresponsive and doesn't even make an attempt to talk to you? It's not weird for you to try to talk to the person, but they act as if it is.

I was talking to someone online one night who I haven't known very long, and he was giving me "his take" on my sister and why she behaves the way she does. Out of curiosity, I jokingly asked for his "take" on me, and he asked why I wanted to know. I said I was just curious, and he informed me, he almost never tells people what he thinks of them, to them, because it's just kind of awkward. I said that I don't just randomly say to people, "Hey, this is what I think of you," but if they ask, then why shouldn't I just be honest? If they ask, they can handle whatever I'm going to say, and it's not like I'm going to point out all the horrible truths about them - besides, if they're talking to me to begin with, I probably don't have anything terrible to say. And if I do, I'm going to at least be tactful about it. Jeez.

My point is, though, even if we say we don't care what other people think of us, we care what the people we like think of us - the people who are important to us. Often times, it's hard to read them - hard to discern if they care about you. So wouldn't it be easier just to ask about it? I mean, sure, it may be awkward at the time, but it's not like thereafter it'll always be awkward. Odds are, both parties involved will forget about it almost right away. So why is it that we have such a hard time just being frank about what we think and how we feel when other people are involved? Silly.

Then there's the stuff that really kind of is creepy, but isn't meant in a creepy way. Facebook stalking is a perfect example. It's the kind of thing that everyone does, but no one talks about. Checking out someone's Facebook that you're interested in, whether as a friend or otherwise, a dozen times a day, to the point that you feel kind of weird, knowing so much about them, but really aren't very close with the person. Then when you do talk to them in person, it's like, "Um, I totally know this already...but I don't want to admit that I stalked your Facebook." You don't mean to be creepy, and you have no intention of using this information in a weird way, but if the person knew, they'd think you were crazy. Spring Awakening puts it best:

In the midst of this nothing, this mess of a life,
Still there's this wanting just to see you go by.
It's almost like lovin', sad as that is,
May not be cool, but it's so where I live.
It's like I'm your lover, or more like your ghost,
I spend the day wonderin' what you do, where you go.
I try and just kick it, but then what can I do?
We've all got our junk, and my junk is you...

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Listening to: Spring Awakening - My Junk