I think it is grossly unfair to say we're all unfriendly, miserable, social outcasts who need an introduction to soap etc. Good grief that's insulting!
There are some of us who could do with general hygiene lessons, but then that applies to pretty much the entire population to different degrees, regardless of line of interests.
We are certainly not all social outcasts, certainly not all people who've given up on people. Some people in the hobby are, without any doubt, but to suggest we all have is just ridiculous. I'd like to think I'm more than comfortable around other people, I wouldn't be in the job I'm in now otherwise! Slow moving people who block entire pavements, footbridges etc, they do annoy me but I wouldn't say it makes me a social outcast :roll: No-one on the frontlines in a customer-facing role can be a social outcast, it's not acceptable to be like that in such a role. Quite, I'm more than happy to have a natter with those customers who I interact with! Mind you, unless you've ever worked in a retail environment you wouldn't know that, or how to do that...
If a driver wants to acknowledge my presence whilst I'm on the railway, I'll more than happily return the gesture. Often I have noise cancelling earphones in, or have focus on my phone for any one of many reasons, be it choosing the next track on Tech's Mobile Disco, updating an observation file, finding something on Real Time Trains, updating the latest entry of my autobiography, adding to a moves file, tweeting or just replying to a text. So I'm appearing quite the norm amongst the crowds normally, and all the while reading this thread and posting this reply, I've got Crewe's platform 6 in my head. Quite why this should be I'm not sure!
Don't get me wrong, I've encountered some strange people in this hobby before, thankfully not often. You either try to work some magic on them and turn the frown upside down (but you need to know how first, don't try and make it up on the fly. Again, customer service and social skills needed!) or just ignore them.
You've probably all ignored what I've actually wrote, so in summary:
Stop judging us all in the same manner, some of us are actually nice people!