Excerpted from Humans by Brandon Stanton, ©2020:
A lot of people will turn me down before they even know what I'm asking. This can come across as rudeness, but it's not. It's just a natural defense mechanism honed by years of urban living. And it's almost always driven by fear. It's quite rare to find a person who enjoys being rude. Rudeness is almost always a reaction to stress. It's a means of protection. It's a shield. And getting past that shield has always been my biggest challenge.
When I lived in Plano, Texas, the Mormons used to cruise the mall parking lots on bicycles looking for shoppers walking alone. I actually quit shopping in certain places just to avoid them. They would pounce, and declining politely never worked. They were persistent, they were aggressive, and the only way to get rid of them was to be rude and vaguely threatening.
I still hate that they did that to me.
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