suffer consequences.

I turn it back on them. If I see someone else being abused I speak up.nicely.

Otherwise, only if I am absolutely sure about what I've seen and that it could not be an innocent act--e.g., the dog owner who fails to clean up after their dog--I offer them one of my own bags. On the latter score, I had one dog owner angrily call me out when my female dog had merely squatted to urinate and I was already holding a bag of her collected feces. The guy was arrogant as hell, even after I politely pointed out his error. I try hard not to be like that...

A couple of years ago while walking my dog, I had a homeowner yell after me as we were strolling by.

"Is it your dog that keeps crapping all around here?"

I'd noticed that someone (or multiple people) had been allowing their dog to do its business without cleaning up after it in the area. But it certainly wasn't us. I always carry bags. I have a dozens of them in a small container attached the the leash, and I use them but not often -- our guy rarely takes a dump on a walk. He almost always goes in our backyard.

Anyway, I yelled back at the homeowner, "I see cigarette butts and soda cans littering the roadside. Is that from you?"

He just gave me a dirty look.

...Some things are everybody's business and some things are nobody's business...

My (our) father was acting up at my (our) brother's wedding rehearsal dinner because he was outraged that his son had converted from Judaism to Islam (Sufi). Dad wanted to outright persuade me to join him in demeaning, debasing, and detaching from my (our) brother, to punish him the night before his wedding, and the next day.

I was outraged by his behavior and wondered what my response should be.

Here's what I did: Dad tried to use the Socratic method of argument by asking me how would I feel if he (Dad) joined the American Nazi Party. I coolly responded, "I don't think they take Jews, Dad . . . . . " Either oblivious to response or undaunted, Dad continued. "What if I joined the Ku Klux Klan?"

My answer: "Three things: 1) You'll always be my father. 2) And I'll always be your daughter. (I gave a heavy, saddened sigh.), and 3) Don't come looking for me if you want any help burning a cross."

That did it. Dad left me alone and kind of moved down the table away from me.

And he left me alone for the rest of the night and the next day. (Don't get me wrong. He continued to persecute my (our) brother the next day via my (our) sister and with his childish antics.)

My son worries that someday I am going to get hurt. School fights, dogs in cars, mistreated kids, abusing a spouse/SO, hurting animals, abusing a cashier, dog poop leavers... All 5' and 90lbs of me gets involved.

It's the right thing to do.

About all I encounter are unruly children whose parental units seem to be oblivious to the situation. I will look at the parents, and give a hairy eyeball, but that's about it, other than the occasional muttering that might be picked up.

...the dog in the car may have ac on...

on a bus, he was in the process of stealing a woman's wallet and I told him to stop. He showed me a knife.

Other than that, mostly I have a problem with people letting their dogs chase or bark at me. I have fantasized about following the guy home who let his dog chase me down the street and he did nothing and reporting him to police. But police probably would do nothing. Had some kids throw sand at me while I was at the beach and their parents did nothing.

Also my sister let her 2 kids traipse through our cabin, nice carpet, with extremely muddy shoes. I was aghast, but said nothing because I knew it would ruin the vacation. I felt sorry for the poor cleaning woman who we met too.

I have no problem telling unruly children to calm down and stop running around or whatever.

I used to try and engage more here than I do. (I think I am having bad reactions to my moniker here.)

IRL, folks are so touchy, I just mind my own business. If I try to be friendly, I'm confused with a flirt. If I were to be pedantic, I may get shot. I'm joking but honestly, can't rule it out. You just never know with some people. Folks are a lot more touchy these days. I would definitely try to help an animal or child in a hot car, though.

I'm a tried and true INFJ. We tend to stick our necks out for just causes at our own peril. I have become more introverted with age. I definitely "pick my battles" with more discretion now than I used to.

I wish I had more close relationships here than I do but I am not going to drop the littlemissmartypants. I've been called that since I was three years old. It was originally meant to be a derogatory comment about my, beyond my years, poise and self confidence, I later determined. I have now accepted it graciously, even though the original intention, when it was bestowed upon me, was to hurt me. I'm more about the "pants" than the "smarty" anyway.

As boring as it is, I definitely mind my own business.

I take you for what you are, a valuable DU contributor. Don't be a stranger!

And to heck with the negative folks. Keep your chin up and shrug 'em off.

My wife confronts everybody. We were both science teachers when we married and the world is her classroom.

She'll confront cops who are misbehaving.

I"ll confront kids who are spray painting graffiti on our back wall, but I don't care if they are smoking pot back there. My wife confronts both. Sometimes it's adult neighbors smoking pot back there, which can be embarrassing, to me anyways.

Especially on public transportation.

People refuse to give up seats. Throw trash. Try and smoke. I get into it.