There is not much I find inexcusable. Really not much. And it also depends the age of the person. I don’t have the same expectations with kids (they’re in the process of learning to be who they will be as adults, and to behave properly so it’s to be expected they will screw up more or less seriously) and with adults.

I would say, for adults, I’m quite sad when I see people refusing to inform themselves, only relying on hearsay and slogans, instead of reading books (plural). It makes me sad for them but I will not go blame them. They’re adults, they’re supposed to be grown-ups that know what they are doing, and are responsible of their life choices and decisions… like I am of my own, no matter how stupid.

For me, it is always when someone asks me a question which answer could easily have been retrieved through their phone online. You’re meaning to tell me, that what you have in your pocket, is not some form of gateway to information that can answer anything you’re curious about at just about anywhere?

I probably will never ask you anything (age gap, distance and the lack of opportunity to cross paths, so nothing personal here don’t get me wrong ;) but I don’t use my phone for anything personal and/or for anything I still have the choice not to use it. Meaning that I don’t use for social media, games, email, Netflix, music, stuff like that, and that I also don’t use it to search for info online. I only have a phone because I’m expected to have one, that is all. It was not like that when I first purchased one (it was the back then brand new first iPhone and the few models following, I was really excited with them) but a few years later, the day I realized the privacy nightmare smartphones were, I stopped using mine for anything personal. Completely.

So you go and bother me instead,

Sorry to know that trying to have a discussion with you bothers you.

Personally, I much prefer to ask questions to people than use a search engine. Even for asking directions when I lost my way when I’m in some new place I don’t know. Often times, starting a conversation, even just by saying ‘hi’, is an opportunity to get to know one another. Not always, that’s fine too.

admit that I don’t know everything.

Knowing everything is never expected, hopefully.

When I’m asked something I can’t answer I just tell that. ‘Sorry I don’t know’ or ‘I couldn’t tell’, with a smile, and then I will see if I can still help the person in any way. If only by referring them to someone else or suggesting they go ask some place where I think they would be able to help them. Or I will just apologize for not being able to help at all.

I met my first real love, and it was a passionate love story, the first (of two) person I was pretty sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, because she had questions about a book.

I was in the book shop of a girl friend of mine (much older than me, at that time) and this young lady was asking her questions about a book I was quite familiar with. My friend directed her to me with a smile, telling her I may be able to answer some of her questions. It was awkward (i’m shy and she was the prettiest girl I could imagine) but she was not shy and she wanted answers. So, we started chatting and we ended up getting a coffee deciding to meet again very soon. And we did. She was an incredibly wonderful and smart person, she changed my life in ways I could not ever tell. But we would have never met had she asked Google (or AI, to be more in tune with our times) instead of asking her questions to that librarian friend of mine. That would have been so sad, wouldn’t you agree?

Edit: typos & clarifications.