Please Shut Up

To the old man on the bus who really bummed me out:

Ok, I'm sure you think of yourself as a friendly person who just enjoys striking up conversation with random people. But when the people (or person, or me) avoid eye contact, including moving their head like a sea sick flamingo, that is a sign that they do not want to talk. Answering questions with a "uh huh" and only saying more when forced into a direct question, and even then with the tiniest amount of words possible is also a sign that the person wants to just sit on the bus unmolested by fake conversation.

But if you feel compelled to burst my anti-people east coast bubble, please oh please just talk about the weather. Or even your colon. Anything but how my future is hopeless.

You knew I was a law student. That was the first question you asked. Worse, you knew I was a 3L standing on the cusp of the real world.

So why did you decide that a great topic of conversation was how this is the worst hiring environment you've ever seen, how even your best and brightest students can't get jobs? (Oh, yes, you're a professor. You should know better.)

Don't do that to us! The horrible economy is not a surprise to us. We know, oh how we know. It is not helpful information. It is the stuff that haunts our nightmares.

And when you don't know someones grades, talking about how B students are just extra hopeless is just extra cruel. I know my grades (It's a B+ average! The + matters!). I know how they look to employers. I know the soul crushing fear that comes every time I look at me and look back out at the cold harsh world. But I take a deep breath, stay calm, gather what little optimism I can and keep trying to be even more awesome and find potential employers to demonstrate my awesomeness to.

That is much harder to do when random strangers decide to verbally punch me in the gut.

So, please of please, if you ever see me on the bus again don't feel compelled to inform me how 3 years of my life was a horrible, debt ridden mistake. Thanks ever so much.