I don’t know what it is, but I am one of those people that strangers think they can safely approach. I guess this goes back to my whole thing about being short and blonde and stuff, so I don’t look like the type to be packing heat. I’ve just always kept in the back of my mind something my dad told me once a few years ago. He said that the reason he thought guys didn’t hit on me was because I have a “mean face” when I’m not thinking about it. Not that I’m trying to look mean, just that my face settles into something that’s less than friendly-looking. I was always upset about that until one night, I was standing at a bar next to Christi, and we were facing a mirror. I noticed that she looked very pretty with no expression on her face, while I…didn’t. So since then, I’ve tried to be a little more conscious of my face. Yet, there are times when it’s the last thing on my mind, like when I’m shopping, or sitting at my desk, or walking down the street. Then I’m pretty sure that I’m always squinting and pissy-looking. Hey, I have bad eyesight, okay! It’s then that I always get the most comments about my expressions. The mail guy in my office always asks me if I’m stressed when he comes into my office. He says I look angry at my computer. Even though I usually am, because my computer at work is a piece of CRAP, it’s not enough to make me LOOK angry. Know what I’m sayin’, dawg? The point is that I make faces when I’m at my most distracted. Yet, this is normally when people come up to me. I can’t tell you how many times people ask me for help in stores. While this has happened to me twice at Target when I was unfortunate enough to be wearing a red shirt there (something I will never do again, be warned!), it’s also happened at shops when I was dressed completely inappropriately. AND, it’s not like someone is asking for my opinion on an item or my assistance in reaching something (LESLIE, I’m talking to you). I can recall one time I was walking through a Robinson’s May wearing a softball uniform, and someone stopped me, held up a shirt, and asked me if “we had another size in the back.” I stared at her and said, “um, I don’t work here.” She was shocked. Shocked! Or, this other time I was in an Old Navy with wet hair, no shoes, shorts, and a bikini top on. And some woman asked me what other color shorts “we” had in the back. I said, “ma’am, do I look like I work here?” And she said YES! I started laughing, because what else could I do? Then I found someone who ACTUALLY worked there, wearing the Old Navy Staff shirt and that headphone device thing to help her. But I’m stopped the most when I’m walking down the street. Today, I was in the middle of a pack of about 7 people. Three in front of me, three in the back. But two people stopped me at different points on my ONE BLOCK WALK. One person asked where a store was, one person asked me for change, both were very sketchy looking. I was in the middle of the pack! None of the other people were bothered! So weird. It’s just something I’ve grown used to as I’ve gotten older, but it still never fails to make me shake my head. I can’t imagine how many people would come up to me if I actually looked friendly!