Bored on my break at work

But that car sickness though

Because I like having work friends and I don't want to be "that weird guy" in another place.

He probably just wanted you to talk to him while he was driving, user. It's kind of rude to pull out a book in that sort of situation. Was it just the two of you?

that's a weird reaction

No, there were more people and nobody was speaking at the time. He broke the silence by saying that

for you

He was trying to make conversation and break that silence then clearly.

I dont understand it either, does rhis actually happen to people?

Probably just insecure about something, or maybe there was imperceptible tension, I dunno.

I always preface pulling a book out on road trips with something like "I've got to return this to the library really soon" or "I've got to get this read by the time we get to the conference." Just so everyone knows I'm not bored or ignoring them, and by saying such things they've never had a problem with it. I've been the "bookish" one since 2 though.

Never happened.

Literally happened to me about two days ago though.

only ever happened to me as a child

>muh blogposting

I read almost exclusively on my phone so most of the time people dont see that Im reading let alone care

I went to my room to read a book in our new place (two male roommates). Once they saw what I was doing, I noticed laughable attempts at trying to appear "smart" or "intelligent" from both of those guys in the following days. People are so idiotic

>at new job
>pretty introverted
>used to use smoking to force me to be sociable - it worked
>no longer smoke
>everyone else smokes, so at lunch and breaks I sit alone in a dark room reading Dostoevsky

I think it may be time to start smoking again.

fuck me, that shit is the worst, thought it was just me fuck reading in the car

Same here

Not the guy you're quoting but to me that only happens with newspapers

I have experienced the exact same thing.

every minimum wage job i've worked has people like this "is that for school? why are you reading if you're not in school?"

i get asked that all the time by dumb people, not what are you reading, but "why are you reading" ahhh

user, there's a reason they're stuck working minimum wage.

Lies

Reminds me of the Bill Hicks bit

m.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkdGr9JYmE

Some people do. They want a social pecking order. You reading a book makes them feel like their imaginary authority is being undermined (or something like that I honestly don't entirely get how some of these people's minds work other than they really cream themselves to the idea of being an alpha fail). So they point it out to make you feel very exposed and embarrassed and make a fool of yourself in their eyes.

You just need to feel more secure in yourself and not worry about it.

Worked at walmart nightshift for like 3 months before I quit
only guy who didn't give me shit for reading Aristotle and such. was some old russian guy who hated america so much
this also
but I stuck out like a sore thumb conversation wise.

Maybe if you came out of your ivory tower into the real world you'd realise what most people are like.

I've literally never been able to read in the car because of this

I am aware of what people are like.
But that sounds absurd.
If they did do that there is some context you are mussing aspie. We only have your word for it after all.

>>"i-it's j-just for uni guys I swear..."
you sound like a beta cuckfag

Guilty as charged desu

I work night crew at a supermarket stocking shelves. Coworkers are all men, many who are out of jail. I read each night on my break. Absolutely nobody minds.

Are you friendly at all with them? Do you guys have workplace banter? If you're always the quiet guy reading then people don't care, it's when they assume you're "normal" that they suddenly get surprised that you read books.

Some jokes here and there. I don’t hang with them outside of work. Most are middle aged, ghetto or both. I suppose that's why I feel fine reading there, these aren't normies.

They were trying to relate to you. They felt insecure, and because our culture ambivalently praises, sometimes, being bookish and intellectual, they tried to demonstrate they are more or less on your level.

You can inwardly sneer all you like, but taking a moment to engage them without being supercilious is all they're asking for and will net you big social points. I swear, you can break it down in terms of micro Realpolitik, like I just did, or you can put it more blandly and spookily as "don't be rude if you can be nice"

Yeah these guys are all young so there's a different kind of workplace culture, I used to do night shifts and they tend to be weirder and older.