Has Anyone Else Met Someone Like This?
I'm on break between my classes and - eeerrgh! - I had to get away. What follows is a tale of minor annoyance and oddity the likes of which I haven't seen in a while.
I plodded down the hall, late to class, to find one of my classmates exiting the room I'd set my sites on and she greeted me jovially and by name. No weirdness there; in fact, if anything I was a little amused/pleased to see that she'd remembered my name as it's so easy to just resort to face recognition in these classes. No, the irritation began when she bounced over to see the painting I was toting in my arms. She started showering me with OMG!compliments (for lack of a better description) and /touching/ the paper. Now, I'm not exactly an /uber/ touchy-feely sort of person but that wasn't the point. There are oils on your hand no matter how clean you think they are and you aren't supposed to touch watercolour paper - or, rather, you're supposed to keep contact to a bare minimum. So I cringed as she ran her fingers over the bits that she thought were especially well done but I said nothing of it, thanking her for her compliments instead.
So I went inside to wrap up a few things, cut down my paper, etc. Before long the gal called out to me. At this point, I started noticing that she was using my name with unusual frequency. Let me clarify. Her dialogue was starting to sound like this (and picture it at a hyperactive pace):
"Hey Crystal! Crystal, I was wondering if I could use your book to draw from. I have to do one hundred drawings for my class by /tomorrow/ and I thought that I could just do some gesture drawings. Instead of, like, doing full on drawings. Do you think that'd be good, Crystal? Oh my God, that book is so cool. And, Crystal, I was thinking I could just draw some gestures from it. I think that would work, don't you? Don't you think that's a good idea, Crystal?"
And she just. Kept. Going. However, at this point, I wasn't really annoyed. I just agreed to let her look through it - after all, she'd actually given me the exact spiel two days before when she'd spotted the book the first time. So I hand it over... and notice that she's flipping through it rather harshly. I'm a little protective of my belongings. If they get messed up, I want it to be because I've used them to that point. Not because someone wants to manhandle a pretty new book. So I cringe and float about as she continues to browse, trying to figure out if and how to ask her to stop.
"Oh my God, Crystal! Can I copy some of these? These will be perfect and I'll just draw a bunch of these for my class because I have to have one hundred drawings by tomorrow. Don't you think that's a good idea, Crystal?"
Yes, she did repeat herself to that point. I just nodded, agreeing once again with her plan and, not wanting to think about what she'd do to my book if I let her flip through any longer, I proposed that we copy them at that moment as class was slow. She asked me at least three times if I would mind going then, despite the fact that I'd been the one to offer and when we finally left, she kept asking me if I thought that the prof would be angry at us, then alternately declaring that she didn't think the prof would mind. I assured her that our prof wouldn't care - several times - and agreed that her plan was a good one - several more times. I also tried to pass along some words of advice and encouragement as to how not to get overwhelmed - stuff that I've been working on myself - only to be completely ignored and talked over.
ARGH! So I resigned myself to mere agreement for the most part, not even bothering to make a semblance of real conversation. When we prepared to copy the pages, I let her flip through initially... only to see that she was licking her fingers to flip. :P I'm sorry, I know I probably sound like an anal neat freak - which, believe me, I'm /not/ *laughs* - but that just cuts it. Please don't spread your spit on my book while you roughly turn its pages. So I made some excuse to grab the book myself and flipped it for her, marking what she wanted. Still, she continued to touch each picture she wanted instead of just pointing. Several times. In the end, we got everything copied and I had managed to relax a bit by the time we got back to the classroom.
I opened my sketchbook and casually started messing with a Draco sketch I'd started a while back and had become rather engulfed when the girl suddenly appeared at my side - /way/ to close - and touched my arm.
"Oh my God, Crystal! That's good! That's really looking cool. Can I see some of those action drawings?"
"Huh? Which ones?" I sidled away a few inches just so she wasn't literally perched on my shoulder.
"The ones you did from this book." Touch-touch. "Can I see them? I want to see how you did it." And then after I dig them out of my bag and explain a bit of my process with them, "Wow! You draw good. I just wanted to see how you did them so I know how to do mine. You know? Because I have to have one hundred drawings for class tomorrow and I figure I can do these."
I stuff my sketches back into my bag, agree that she's done well to choose gestures for part of those drawings. And... let's just say that I didn't run after her when she walked away. To be fair, I think she might've had some sort of disability, judging by her behaviour. That's fine; I've been around mentally and physically challenged folks a fair bit and have no issues with that. But I was nearly ready to shove sporks into my ears what with the constant barrage of questions, reiterations, touching and the constant repetition of my name. It just made me /nervous/.
Has anyone else been in this situation? I feel a little bad, but I think I kept my cool well.
I plodded down the hall, late to class, to find one of my classmates exiting the room I'd set my sites on and she greeted me jovially and by name. No weirdness there; in fact, if anything I was a little amused/pleased to see that she'd remembered my name as it's so easy to just resort to face recognition in these classes. No, the irritation began when she bounced over to see the painting I was toting in my arms. She started showering me with OMG!compliments (for lack of a better description) and /touching/ the paper. Now, I'm not exactly an /uber/ touchy-feely sort of person but that wasn't the point. There are oils on your hand no matter how clean you think they are and you aren't supposed to touch watercolour paper - or, rather, you're supposed to keep contact to a bare minimum. So I cringed as she ran her fingers over the bits that she thought were especially well done but I said nothing of it, thanking her for her compliments instead.
So I went inside to wrap up a few things, cut down my paper, etc. Before long the gal called out to me. At this point, I started noticing that she was using my name with unusual frequency. Let me clarify. Her dialogue was starting to sound like this (and picture it at a hyperactive pace):
"Hey Crystal! Crystal, I was wondering if I could use your book to draw from. I have to do one hundred drawings for my class by /tomorrow/ and I thought that I could just do some gesture drawings. Instead of, like, doing full on drawings. Do you think that'd be good, Crystal? Oh my God, that book is so cool. And, Crystal, I was thinking I could just draw some gestures from it. I think that would work, don't you? Don't you think that's a good idea, Crystal?"
And she just. Kept. Going. However, at this point, I wasn't really annoyed. I just agreed to let her look through it - after all, she'd actually given me the exact spiel two days before when she'd spotted the book the first time. So I hand it over... and notice that she's flipping through it rather harshly. I'm a little protective of my belongings. If they get messed up, I want it to be because I've used them to that point. Not because someone wants to manhandle a pretty new book. So I cringe and float about as she continues to browse, trying to figure out if and how to ask her to stop.
"Oh my God, Crystal! Can I copy some of these? These will be perfect and I'll just draw a bunch of these for my class because I have to have one hundred drawings by tomorrow. Don't you think that's a good idea, Crystal?"
Yes, she did repeat herself to that point. I just nodded, agreeing once again with her plan and, not wanting to think about what she'd do to my book if I let her flip through any longer, I proposed that we copy them at that moment as class was slow. She asked me at least three times if I would mind going then, despite the fact that I'd been the one to offer and when we finally left, she kept asking me if I thought that the prof would be angry at us, then alternately declaring that she didn't think the prof would mind. I assured her that our prof wouldn't care - several times - and agreed that her plan was a good one - several more times. I also tried to pass along some words of advice and encouragement as to how not to get overwhelmed - stuff that I've been working on myself - only to be completely ignored and talked over.
ARGH! So I resigned myself to mere agreement for the most part, not even bothering to make a semblance of real conversation. When we prepared to copy the pages, I let her flip through initially... only to see that she was licking her fingers to flip. :P I'm sorry, I know I probably sound like an anal neat freak - which, believe me, I'm /not/ *laughs* - but that just cuts it. Please don't spread your spit on my book while you roughly turn its pages. So I made some excuse to grab the book myself and flipped it for her, marking what she wanted. Still, she continued to touch each picture she wanted instead of just pointing. Several times. In the end, we got everything copied and I had managed to relax a bit by the time we got back to the classroom.
I opened my sketchbook and casually started messing with a Draco sketch I'd started a while back and had become rather engulfed when the girl suddenly appeared at my side - /way/ to close - and touched my arm.
"Oh my God, Crystal! That's good! That's really looking cool. Can I see some of those action drawings?"
"Huh? Which ones?" I sidled away a few inches just so she wasn't literally perched on my shoulder.
"The ones you did from this book." Touch-touch. "Can I see them? I want to see how you did it." And then after I dig them out of my bag and explain a bit of my process with them, "Wow! You draw good. I just wanted to see how you did them so I know how to do mine. You know? Because I have to have one hundred drawings for class tomorrow and I figure I can do these."
I stuff my sketches back into my bag, agree that she's done well to choose gestures for part of those drawings. And... let's just say that I didn't run after her when she walked away. To be fair, I think she might've had some sort of disability, judging by her behaviour. That's fine; I've been around mentally and physically challenged folks a fair bit and have no issues with that. But I was nearly ready to shove sporks into my ears what with the constant barrage of questions, reiterations, touching and the constant repetition of my name. It just made me /nervous/.
Has anyone else been in this situation? I feel a little bad, but I think I kept my cool well.