courageous_liquid t1_jadciwm wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:58 PM

Reply to comment by coolranchplease in Moving Mondays - New Resident Questions by AutoModerator

I often do work in those neighborhoods (civil engineering) on foot for 8ish hours at a time.

>I dress down (jeans and a hoodie), stay off my phone, mind my business, etc. I don't want to be overly-paranoid but I also don't want to be naive. I'm a fairly large guy so perhaps that helps, but any tips? Or am I being nervous for nothing?

Absolutely normal to make sure you're not being totally oblivious on your phone and the like, just like basically anywhere else. If you're going to be working in the same few places there's probably gonna be some guys outside you should say hi to if you're going to be working in close proximity. Vest/hardhat and clipboard help, but obviously not required if that's not part of your job.

Generally people don't want issues.

coolranchplease t1_jae3c2v wrote on February 28, 2023 at 7:47 PM

Thanks, I would agree with that last sentence. Most folks are nice.. I say hi to people who are outside if they look at me but mostly I just look straight ahead and spend as little time between my car and the house I'm entering as possible. Again - maybe I'm over thinking it.

Also there have been times where I've avoided large groups (more than 2 or 3 people) but some part of me thinks that if I cross the street I'll offend someone and start an altercation.

I just want to be as low key as possible and not ruffle any feathers. And for the 100th time - I'm not trying to sound like a total chicken or be insulting to the area

courageous_liquid t1_jaentte wrote on February 28, 2023 at 9:58 PM

Yeah it's less of a go out of your way to be nice and more of a what's good acknowledgement.

Crossing the street is meh unless it's a group of like 13 year olds. Any mixed group of 13 year olds is insane anywhere on the planet.

Also if you haven't, learn what a trap house looks like. Was able to get some good looks by knowing what was going on and nipping any issues about why I was there in the bud. A few times that favor was returned by them telling me I should take a walk for a few hours or something if a shipment was late.