How to interact with curious people

[bowenzhang]

I am normally used to people curious around the CT everyday, poking inside (as sentry shows), comment a word or two as I exit / enter the car. That’s fine. And I feel happy to share too.

Today, we parked at a national historical site in southwest WA. One of the children was fuzzy and throwing a tantrum, siting on my wife’s legs on front passenger side crying. I wasn’t in good mood too, as we wasted a beautiful sunny Saturday morning doing nothing.
Two senior ladies walked by, knocked my driver side window. I didn’t want to, but to be polite, I lowered window.
Them: “what is this? Is it a car?
Me: “err……no, it is not a car.” (I was gonna say “it is a spaceship, we just landed on earth.” but not really in such a mood)
Them: “what is it?”
Me: “……it is a car.”
Them: “so it is a car. What name is this car?”
Me: “……Cybertruck”
Them: “what?”
Me: “Cybertruck”
Them: “can you spell it for me?”
Me: “err….”
My wife then stepped in and said we have to leave and the kid is grumpy.
They apologized and left.
We drove away soon.

I am happy to share my passion on CT with anyone who is curious. But it is also weird to me, like, if you walk by a cool house and go ahead knock the door, interrupt whatever the resident is doing and ask what the name of the house is.

How do you all take on this?

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[A-AY-RON]

Comes with the territory. There’s steps you can take to minimize engagement (dark tint, park further away, etc), but you can only control so many variables. As time goes on, it gets better.

 

[Outdoors]

Pray for rain. Only the hardcore knock on the window during those times.

 

[Friday]

Kind of thinking of pre-printing postcards for faq just to hand out.

Yes, it's a real vehicle. It's a pickup truck
It's made by Tesla. In the United States, in Texas.
It's electric. Yes, I plug it in at home. No, I have never run out of charge
No, I'm not rich, or related to Elon.
Yes, I love it.
Yes, it's made of stainless steel. Yes, some people will wrap it in different colors.
No, it doesn't catch fire everyday.
Yes, it will be able to drive itself very, very soon.

etc.............................

 

[Outdoors]

Kind of thinking of pre-printing postcards for faq just to hand out.

Yes, it's a real vehicle. It's a pickup truck
It's made by Tesla. In the United States, in Texas.
It's electric. Yes, I plug it in at home. No, I have never run out of charge
No, I'm not rich, or related to Elon.
Yes, I love it.
Yes, it's made of stainless steel. Yes, some people will wrap it in different colors.
No, it doesn't catch fire everyday.
Yes, it will be able to drive itself very, very soon.

etc.............................

Kind of douchey if ya ask me.

 

[Jack27]

Living in Los Angeles I Haven't got many questions or interaction. I guess because there are allot out here already? I Actualy kind of feel I get more people making it clear they don’t care to look at it ?.

 

[Treynor]

Kind of thinking of pre-printing postcards for faq just to hand out.

Yes, it's a real vehicle. It's a pickup truck
It's made by Tesla. In the United States, in Texas.
It's electric. Yes, I plug it in at home. No, I have never run out of charge
No, I'm not rich, or related to Elon.
Yes, I love it.
Yes, it's made of stainless steel. Yes, some people will wrap it in different colors.
No, it doesn't catch fire everyday.
Yes, it will be able to drive itself very, very soon.

etc.............................

Yep. I think I’ll cut and paste these very words. Create a biz card with this info.

 

[Killlbox]

Kind of douchey if ya ask me.

Maybe but after having our truck spit on I give zero fucks about peoples feelings on the truck.

 

[igs]

Living in Los Angeles I Haven't got many questions or interaction. I guess because there are allot out here already? I Actualy kind of feel I get more people making it clear they don’t care to look at it ?.

You don't get the middle finger?

 

[Jack27]

You don't get the middle finger?

Ha not that I’ve noticed but I’m sure I have! I did get some LMU kids driving the opposite way while I was parking yelling very annoying and sarcastic “niiiiceee truuuck” funny to hate on a truck because it’s so expensive when your parents are paying double that to send you to collage and live by the beach ?

 

[rrizzi7210]

It comes with the territory. There are steps you can take to minimize engagement (dark tint, park further away, etc.), but you can only control so many variables. As time goes on, it gets better.

I just added a dark tint, and it helps to some degree. The only issue now is that people think my CT is unoccupied and put their hands up to the windows to peer inside. If an adult has a young person under 15, I have found that 100% of the time, they are super-friendly and just curious.

Another "trick" I have used is hitting "high" for ride height while parked, which causes overly touchy people to step back immediately because they might think they caused something to happen. In some situations when parking, I'll switch to "Off Road", and hit "Very High" and exit my CT to leave it pretty much out of reach while parked.

However, depending on your part of town, putting the driver-side window down or even the passenger side is generally the nice thing to do. You just have to use discretion, and remember, many people are just as fascinated with the CT as we were when we first saw it nearly five years ago. Try not to rain on their parade unless you sense a safety issue, intoxicated people, a large group, etc.

Many years ago, about 22 to be exact, women used to approach my wife and me because we had five children with us everywhere we went and would often ask, "Are they all yours?" I found this to be rude, but maybe it was just me. These people in the past have prepared me for the encounters I've had with people concerning my CT CB.

P.S. I've only encountered one "hater" and his apparent girlfriend at night in West Palm Beach at a traffic light. They quickly went "silent" as soon as a West Palm Beach Police Officer in a large SUV pulled up alongside them and shut them down in one second. I never even rolled my window down and just watched them through my dark tints (sun was already down too).

 

[A-AY-RON]

I just added a dark tint, and it helps to some degree. The only issue now is that people think my CT is unoccupied and put their hands up to the windows to peer inside. If an adult has a young person under 15, I have found that 100% of the time, they are super-friendly and just curious.

Another "trick" I have used is hitting "high" for ride height while parked, which causes overly touchy people to step back immediately because they might think they caused something to happen. In some situations when parking, I'll switch to "Off Road", and hit "Very High" and exit my CT to leave it pretty much out of reach while parked.

However, depending on your part of town, putting the driver-side window down or even the passenger side is generally the nice thing to do. You just have to use discretion, and remember, many people are just as fascinated with the CT as we were when we first saw it nearly five years ago. Try not to rain on their parade unless you sense a safety issue, intoxicated people, a large group, etc.

Many years ago, about 22 to be exact, women used to approach my wife and me because we had five children with us everywhere we went and would often ask, "Are they all yours?" I found this to be rude, but maybe it was just me. These people in the past have prepared me for the encounters I've had with people concerning my CT CB.

P.S. I've only encountered one "hater" and his apparent girlfriend at night in West Palm Beach at a traffic light. They quickly went "silent" as soon as a West Palm Beach Police Officer in a large SUV pulled up alongside them and shut them down in one second. I never even rolled my window down and just watched them through my dark tints (sun was already down too).

I agree. Been a gearhead since the 90s and have owned so many “different” cars that this is very familiar territory.

I also park in “Very High” to minimize some of the shorter folks putting hands on window to look in.

On the road, I won’t roll my windows down for anyone except for excited looking kids. Easier for me as my side windows are 5% and windshield is 20%. If someone approaches me while parked, I tend to step outside of vehicle so they engage me more than talking “at” my truck. That said, I’ll gladly talk their ear off when they have questions.

 

[jeffrey2z]

I am normally used to people curious around the CT everyday, poking inside (as sentry shows), comment a word or two as I exit / enter the car. That’s fine. And I feel happy to share too.

Today, we parked at a national historical site in southwest WA. One of the children was fuzzy and throwing a tantrum, siting on my wife’s legs on front passenger side crying. I wasn’t in good mood too, as we wasted a beautiful sunny Saturday morning doing nothing.
Two senior ladies walked by, knocked my driver side window. I didn’t want to, but to be polite, I lowered window.
Them: “what is this? Is it a car?
Me: “err……no, it is not a car.” (I was gonna say “it is a spaceship, we just landed on earth.” but not really in such a mood)
Them: “what is it?”
Me: “……it is a car.”
Them: “so it is a car. What name is this car?”
Me: “……Cybertruck”
Them: “what?”
Me: “Cybertruck”
Them: “can you spell it for me?”
Me: “err….”
My wife then stepped in and said we have to leave and the kid is grumpy.
They apologized and left.
We drove away soon.

I am happy to share my passion on CT with anyone who is curious. But it is also weird to me, like, if you walk by a cool house and go ahead knock the door, interrupt whatever the resident is doing and ask what the name of the house is.

How do you all take on this?

 

[Mattkalin]

Totally depends on my mood… some days I’m tired and grouchy and it irritates me other days I’m happy to show it off.. we’re all human .. not every interaction will be positive and that’s ok.

 

[jeffrey2z]

Personally, I love it. Being from Detroit talking cars is something that we do. I got the first four-door raptor back in 2011 and it was the same thing. I was very proud of the car and so happy to share stories with the people and they would tell me stories that they had seen online about it too. This is like having the raptor times 10. I’ve got the cyber beast. And I’m not shy. I’ve even had a couple haters jump in the car and launched it for them. They become believers as soon as I do that. I look forward to it every day.

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