Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
Of course, and that's why I tried to to hang a value judgement based upon my small snapshot of the big picture. With that said, it's not a heavy social lift to say "Thank, you, enjoy your ride."
True.. but the tone may have been set when you joined their group uninvited and while some may have been socially polite, others may have just been waiting for you to leave because you were never part of the group to start with.
I'm not saying that as a criticism, just as an example of reactions not being so cut and dry. Yes we can speculate about their social skills all day but what about those of injecting oneself into an activity already in progress on the fly. It sort of forces someone to either be polite or appear overtly rude. Kinda like waving at every cyclist that passes (which I tend to do). Creates a forced obligation or perception of arrogance. Some people dont care and others resent the imposition.
We focus on them but why do we create the obligation? Why do I think every stranger cyclist should wave to each other and why did you think you should just attach to that passing group without knowing who they are.