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Some common advice some New Yorkers gave me when moving to the city was to generally ignore strangers who approach you on the street. Now, I’m a fan of side quests but I’m also not a fan of getting mugged or stolen from, so I took the advice. Now, keep in mind, I’m a 24 year old man, but I’m small and look like a 15 year old Latino boy (and dress like one), so I keep that in mind when people approach me. I don’t look wealthy.

Today, when walking to my usual We Work building (a lot of richer looking tech people tend to hang around the area), I took out my wallet to grab the entrance keycard, and some larger dude in a ski mask (it wasn’t even that cold) who was walking in my direction gets closer and says “Hey bro.” It’s a decently busy area, but I’m thinking he was interested in my wallet so I just ignore him and quickly shuffle into the Wework building.

This particular situation seemed sketchy, but I also hate being rude. Like a homeless person asking for change is an everyday thing, but they’re still human beings, so they deserve a “sorry, no change” at the very least, right? But also, based on vibes (like if someone is aggressive), sometimes the best case is to just ignore and keep walking.

TLDR: So I wonder, what’s your general strategy for when to ignore people and when to not ignore people? NYC is cool because random interactions with strangers are part of what makes it great. But what’s the line between that and common sense street smarts? A lot of people say “listen to your gut” but I have generalized anxiety disorder, so I don’t think I should.