And when I say strangers here, I mean people with whom you have had either no interaction or interaction so limited you would not by any means consider even saying “hello” to them as you pass them by on the street.
And when I say unsolicited advice here, I mean when someone interrupts a conversation that you are having with another individual in order to tell you what to do.
As you probably can guess if you are a frequent reader of L’histoire de sa vie, I’m against this plague on society.
Just today, someone had to interrupt a conversation I was having with a coworker to give me advice on the topic. An opinion is one thing: in fact, joining in with your opinion or even additional knowledge about a topic (if it’s a current event for instance) is a great way to become acquainted with someone. You start out on equal footing and get across a message of “I respect you enough to tell you how I feel about this topic” or “you might be interested to know that there is a new development in this story.”
But with unsolicited advice, it’s not an equal footing situation. It’s more of a situation of “I know better than you and here’s what I know.” You know what stranger? Your credentials have not been examined. Perhaps you do know better than me at whatever topic. But on the topic of civility, you certainly do not. For you are rude, disrespectful, and I do not care for what you have to say. I said, “good day!”
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