It's Time To Help a Friend! ... and Stranger!

[MiracleGhost47]

Welcome. Today, I'll be asking a question about how you help your friends. There's just one thing I would like to clarify before we begin: This isn't me asking for advice, so you don't need to explain your answer as if you're trying to give me instructions (though, I suppose you can if you want). So, here's the question...

 

What do you say to a friend that's sad? Would you give advice, emotional support, or both? Perhaps you don't have a default style and simply prefer your friend to directly explain what he/she wants from you.

 

What about strangers? If you see a stranger on the sidewalk walk around pouting, perhaps even crying, do you feel it is your duty to help? What if the stranger clearly sees you, but willingly does not ask for your help? Are you still willing to offer it, or would you rather assume that he/she doesn't deserve the help because it wasn't actually asked for.

 

Decisions, decisions... 

[Yuuji Kazami]

To a friend: I'll have to say that I don't have a default style. It depedns on what mood I'm sensing, and how severe it is. For example, a friend who is sad about a bad mark on a test is different from a friend who is sad because a important family memeber died. Depending on the mood, it'll determine what method I would go about to approach them.

 

To a stranger: This one I'll have to say that I'm offering help. Whether or not they'll ask, I just feel personally that I'm obliged to help others in any way I can. Of course, my default style for this one would be to ask "Are you alright".

 

This question is a little harder to answer because it's too broad and vague. If it were more of a specific scenerio, it'd be much easier to answer with more detail, like the chef one.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

For friends or people I'm relatively close to or know well enough (within my limited social circle of people), it depends on the situation. I don't have a "one size fits all approach" to addressing these problems. This is coupled with the fact that my RL friends (and even some of my active online ones) are very minimal, so chances of me even having to deal with this situation is very low (outside of immediate family).

 

In other cases, I'll probably just ask if everything is fine (and if they need my help, just do what my abilities will allow)

 

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As for strangers, I'd have to say that I'm a lot more distant in this case and if they don't need my help with their emotional problems, I'm likely to just leave them be. I'd rather not get involved if a stranger is pouting on the sidewalk (and possibly swearing every couple seconds that the world sucks and whatever else) or otherwise crying for whatever reason. Though, this comes with the responsibility of knowing if said person is going to do some drastic within the next couple seconds and being prepared to react. Also the fact that some people can just fake sadness and toy with your sympathy, while in reality, they're perfectly fine and nothing is actually wrong with them.

 

(Though, this will change depending on the circumstances. On the street, I'm likely to go on my own business. In other settings [i.e. memorial services or other somber events], probably more open, but either way, take it with a hint of precaution)

 

For other stuff like opening the door for someone or whatever else, it depends on what they need done (and how they approach me about it). 

[Susie]

For a friend id just ask whats wrong and tell them something along the lines of "well that sucks" or some other generic quote and if I got something thought up of then I may give emotional support or even some advice.

 

As for a stranger Id give them nothing their issues are of no concern to me.

[MiracleGhost47]

Also the fact that some people can just fake sadness and toy with your sympathy, while in reality, they're perfectly fine and nothing is actually wrong with them.

I've never had this happen to me before.