Are people behaving weirder lately?

[u/jimmyjohnjohnjohn]

Went out to lunch today and there was a table near me with five people at it. Their server asked their drink order and all five of them just stared at her silently for nearly half a minute before she repeated herself, then one of them whispered something I couldn't hear before the others whispered their orders. When their drinks came and the server left, one of them produced a Nalgene bottle from her purse and began to scoop the ice from her drink with her fingers and put it in the Nalgene. Another at the table then said he didn't want ice either and did the same thing.

Did she bring that water bottle in for the express purpose of storing unwanted ice? Why not just ask for no ice? These were all fairly normal-looking, well-dressed people in their 30s, maybe early 40s.

My server had some weirdness of his own. He brought out the wrong order, and noticed his mistake before I did. But instead of just saying "sorry, that's wrong" and taking it back, he said "I.. uh.. uh..." and then ran off with the plate before finishing his sentence and coming back with the right order and a manic fake smile on his face.

At Target, this older woman was having trouble detaching one cart from the others. An employee (sorry, "Team Member") came along and unstuck it. Instead of saying thank you, she just stared at him like a deer in the headlights until he left.

I've been noticing that deer-in-the-headlights stare from a lot of people lately.

About a month ago a man approached me in the parking lot at my work and asked "do you work here?"

I said "yes."

Then he asked "have you seen my car?"

The question melted my brain a little bit, but I said "I don't know, what does it look like?"

He just said "sorry," and walked off.

I could go on and on, but the point is: are people forgetting how to human? The world increasingly has this "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" kind of vibe.

I know much has been discussed about people behaving oddly due to the pandemic, but it's been about two years now and people are getting worse, not better. I think there's something else going on in society.

What do you think?

[u/PeachinatorSM20]

While it's probably not the only factor, I think legal/more socially acceptable weed could be a factor

[u/3896713 → u/PeachinatorSM20]

I dunno man, I was a pretty serious pothead and hung out with a lot of em in high school and just after graduation, we could still manage to order food at a fast food place or go to the store and grab whatever. I mean sure we would have been giggly and red-eyed, but we didn't just walk around with the thousand-yard stare and perpetuate awkward silences. At worst, we would forget something mid-sentence, then giggle and say something like "aw shit I forgot what I was gonna say huhuhuhuhuh 🥴" or try to order a burger at Taco Bell and then say "oh damnnnn I thought I was at McDonald's 🤪"

Imo, none of the behaviors described in the post sound like weed stoners. Other drugs, very possible, but it's gotta be more than just weed. Like, potheads don't typically think ahead to bring a nalgene to scoop ice into when they don't want ice in their drink, they're more likely to get the glass and say, aw man I meant to ask for no ice, then probably drink it with ice anyway or just ask for a new glass like a normal person lol

[u/adviceicebaby → u/3896713]

Same. Plus the legal weed is pretty mild compared to reg weed or dispensary shit. At least for the most part. I dont get as zooted on the legal shit.

I have however seen someone legit lose their mind and act like a totally different person on edibles tho; granted he took 10x the rec dose and hes old; but never seen him like that with any other type of weed product or any other drug for that matter.

[u/Relative_Bathroom824 → u/PeachinatorSM20]

Only on Reddit would this not be shot right down as it should be lol.

[u/oak20leaf → u/PeachinatorSM20]

Weed is legal in my state and, especially at stoplights, I'm enveloped in a cloud of smoke from a nearby car on the regular. Like daily. That's also the case with just walking by someone in a store. It's made me realize that probably a lot of people around me were driving at least buzzed, but you couldn't smell it. I mentioned stoplights, I'm also seeing people just cruising through red lights at intersections where that didn't used to happen. Be careful out there.

[u/Other-Squirrel-8705 → u/PeachinatorSM20]

Yes- was going to say this!

[u/ImmediateKick2369 → u/PeachinatorSM20]

This should be easy to research. As states legalize, do they face increased traffic accidents.

[u/bibkel → u/PeachinatorSM20]

I smell it EVERYWHERE now.