As found on Youtube
Talking to Strangers
Let’s pretend you get on the bus and it’s SUPER crowded, the only spot that’s open is between two strangers. ( don’t talk to them ) So you sit down between two people you never met and everyone is fine. Everyone’s keeping to themselves. ( or is it??) No one’s making eye contact, ( do they have glasses?) It’s perfect. ( nothings perfect) Sure, your shoulders are touching but that’s just what happens, that’s part of the bus going experience, ( and show your in hell) YOUPOORPERSON But then at the very next stop, Aisle Seat Guy to the fghfjcfcuc gets off. What do you do? Jump off the bus! So now you and Window Seat Guy are sitting right next to each other.( dont flirt) But since you’re in the middle, you have to be the one to decide… do you move or not? I honestly don’t know what the right thing to do in that situation is but lay on both seats I’m conflicted. Because if you move it would be silently telling the other person, “HEYYOURDISGUSTING “ICANTSTANDHAVINGOURSHOULDERSTOUCHINGANYLONGERANDIMGLADTHATIFINNALYGOTAWAYFROMYOUUGH!” But on the other hand, if I was the Window Seat Guy, I would want the Middle Seat Guy to become the new RU7DRNFJKFC Seat Guy. I wouldn’t see moving as rude, I would just want his gross, disgusting body as far away from me as possible. That’s not rude, but on the other, OTHER hand… Maybe I’m overthinking everything and most people don’t even mind being this close to another human and they aren’t struggling socially, I don’t know. Now imagine that same situation…but with urinals. If you’re in the middle urinal, ( GIRLS DONT KNOW DA HECH WAT DAT MEANS) Do you move halfway through to the other urinal? Because I would. Are you supposed to talk to people when you’re sitting two inches away from them? I always felt like I should say something like “hey, did you see the game last night?” …I didn’t– I was too busy drawing cartoons.But I realized that this is a two-way street. I’m worried about not talking to someone but they’re not talking to me either. (OF COURSE NOT.) We both agree that there’s this unwritten contract between us that we’re not even going to look at each other. It got me thinking about strangers and specifically, how I treat them. And how I can make money off of them and get famous. Heyo! — I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. That was a joke. For most of my life, …I would go out of my way to avoid talking to people. I would stay in my lane mind my own business No eye contact if everyone’s using a urinal, I’d have to pee tomorrow. Yes, I’m lonely. (Sad.) But now that YouTube’s the thing, I’m interacting with strangers more often than I’ve had to in my entire life.So I’ve been thinking a lot about strangers and first of all, I think the word “sTrAnGeR” is already an insulting label for someone just because you don’t know their name. “Oh, I don’t know this person? They’re a ‘Stranger,’ they’re ~strange~. I’m the normal one. They’re the freaks. They probably murder people with an axe!” (bold of you to assume I murder people with an axe) That’s always the go-to profession of a stranger, an axe murderer.But, the people you see throughout your day are all humans with their own hopes and dreams and some of them may hope to kill you But, you’ll never know because you didn’t ever take the time to get to know them! (Become friends with people you know, kids.) So I think that the people you see throughout your daily life aren’t strangers. They’re potential friends. Except for the weird ones obviously, stay away from them. (EW) And yes, I’m telling you to judge people based on their appearance. They’re the ones that chose to wear anime(Thats mean 🙁 ) shirts in public, okay?! So, back to the bus scenario.I’m sitting right next to this fellow human being so far there’s not a single reason why I should dislike this person. But I don’t know why if you put him and me on a bus next to each other I want him as far away from me as possible. ( thats mean, James) Just stop touching my shoulder! So that was the last time I took the bus. Unfortunately, that’s not the only place you meet strangers… (You got Social Media.) One time, I was at Home Depot and I was looking for jumper cables And I couldn’t find them anywhere. And I don’t know if I’m the only human that’s like this But I will try everything in my power to not talk to a sales associate. (same James, same) I guess it’s cuz I know they get paid minimum wage and their life sucks and I just want to leave them alone and not make their job any harder than it has to be. But asking employees for help isn’t even bothering them that much. In fact, I think it’s part of their job? Like what’s the worst thing they’re gonna say? UGH! You don’t know where one specific item is?! Everyone else knows! Did you even look?! They’re in the jumper cable aisle! Idiot!” (OOF) (SLAP!) No one’s gonna think that.So feeling desperate I mustered up what little courage I had and swaggered up to someone wearing an orange vest and said “Excuse me. Do you know where the jumper cables?”– I don’t work here. Oh, you don’t work here…? And then he walked away… (To the tune of The Duck Song) And then he waddled away, waddle waddle. (MEMORIES) And then the very next day, BUM! BUM!! BUM! So I think the logical thing to do in that situation would have been to find someone who DOES work there? But I left the store because I didn’t want to run into that same guy again. But I also bought a hammer because I didn’t want people to think that I stole something. so… (starting engine) Oh yeah…And by the way, if you wear an orange vest to Home Depot, (Their construction workers.) Just expect people to ask you for help. Same goes for people who wear red shirts at Target. You’d think I’d learn from my mistakes, but no! I have a bunch more examples. When my book came out (I have the book and its the best book ever) My publisher said that it was going to be carried at Barnes & Noble.And I thought that was Super Duper cool and wanted to see my book in the wild. Not to buy or anything just to have a look at it. So I took my friend Adam from SomethingElseYT, and we went to the local Barnes & Noble and started our search. We looked in the humor section, didn’t find it. Then we checked the new release section, It wasn’t there either. Then we looked at the best-selling section then the religious section, but we couldn’t find the book anywhere. So either the publisher lied (NANI!?) or they had already sold out, but just to be sure I asked one of the workers Hey, do you guys have a book by…? TheOdd1sOut? He kind of looks like this.And the worker typed something out on his computer and said, oh, yeah We got those in the back. We just haven’t put him out yet So then he went to the back room brought out a copy and handed it to me saying here you go kid And I thought well, frick. I can’t just hand it back to the guy and say “oh, no, that’s okay, I didn’t want to buy it. I just wanted to have a look at it.” Do you know how inconvenient that would be? So the only less awkward option I could think of, was to buy my own book and you know what? (Awkwardly…) I’d get a couple cents back from this purchase.So it wouldn’t have been a total loss But Adam, being the more sensible one, said: Adam: Dude, this is ridiculous. You-you have to come clean. James: So then he went to the worker and said: Adam: So he actually uh, wrote this book. He just wanted to get a look at it like in the wild. James: And the worker said “Oh, that’s so cool,” (pen clicks) “Do you want to sign our copies?” And then I thought, well, hold on. You’re not even going to ask me for my ID? How do you know I actually wrote this book and I’m not some guy trying to deface someone else’s? And then the guy gave me a whole stack of my books and I signed them all. Last story before I go I was in the hallway of a building and me and this potential friend crossed paths, he said “Hello”, and I was going to respond with Hello, and how’s it going? But I combined the two and ended up saying, “How?” and then I jumped out a window and fell to my death (OOF) I can’t rationalize that behavior.Maybe I spend too much time on the computer I’m not used to looking at real people’s faces But I’m trying to change. Don’t get me wrong, going to conventions and meeting fans has helped me a lot with talking to people. Granted, those conversations are usually one-sided and a real stranger won’t already know who I am, but they’ve still helped me. Now, you might be expecting me to give you advice on overcoming social anxiety, but if you watch this video, you know, I’m not the most qualified to give that advice, but I’ll try my best. I know it’s hard to feel confident and I’m still working on it, But you have to understand that we’re ALL people and we ALL have things that were struggling with. And in reality, we’re not all watching or caring about every little thing that other people do. We’re all too busy worrying about what other people think of us. So with enough practice and believing in yourself, You can show the world your true colors. And, I think you’ll find that people are a lot nicer than you think.So if you’re the middle seat guy on the bus and you have to decide whether or not to move Do whatever you want. No one cares. Just stop touching my shoulders! End Card James: Hey everyone. I know it’s been a while. Thank you for being patient with this video. May has been a really busy month because some of you might… …know that May is my birthday month and I don’t work on my birthday month so… If there’s a lesson you should take away from this video, is don’t worry about being awkward. Because everyone is weird. And if anyone makes you feel bad for being awkward, then not only is that person… …more weird than you, but they’re also an a-hole. I have some events coming up very soon I have VidCon, and chessboxing. And then I’m also going on tour with a bunch of people that you might recognize Like Jayden, and Ross, and Domics, and Egoraptor…just uh, to name drop a couple people. So if any of these events look interesting, you can buy some tickets in the description……or through the event tab on my website. And if you’re yearning for more Odd1sOut content, I just wanted to remind you all that I have a second channel and either today or tomorrow I’m going to be uploading a video where I answer some math questions with my friend Pat. Please watch it. (please 🙁 ) As always, thanks to everyone who worked on this video and a big, big thanks to YOU dear viewer… for wearing your seat belt. (BUSSESDONTHAVESEATBELTS) .