What do you think if you see someone crying in public? Is it kinder to talk to them or kinder to MYOB or would it depend?
I don't mean, e.g. A crying distressed child all alone (one extreme) or a crying drunk girl with her mates on a night out (another extreme) but just more sort of "everyday" situations. I unexpectedly found myself in this position at the weekend, and no doubt I have myself been a "public cryer" on occasion and i just felt embarrassed but sometimes you can't help it.
On Saturday i was on the train abd there was a woman (20s) opposite me and she had a salad bowl and some other salady bits -- like a flavoured chicken thing and a little pot of hummus (m&s) and she was assembling it all into one main salad in the larger bowl on her lap. This particular train didn't have tables in the middle of 4 seats (no tables anywhere actually) and i guess the train jerked or something and the whole thing fell off her lap and onto the floor before she had even taken a bite. Anyway, she started crying (after she cleared it up and realised nothing was salvageable save a few dry bits of lettuce). Not loudly or anything, and she was trying to be discreet and NOT cry, but she was obviously distressed about it. I had no idea what to do as obviously i was sat right opposite her! I just pointedly looked at my phone until my stop so as not to worsen her embarrassment. I tried to think about what i would want if it were me in that scenario but i can't even imagine why someone would cry about a salad anyway so it's quite a difficult exercise!
what is the right thing to do when either confronted by a crying person or when you find yourself about to cry (esp in a situation where you can't absent yourself)?
(And whyyyy would you cry about a salad??)