That was a first

It's almost a cliche. When a stranger walks up to you on or around public transportation to strike up conversation, that person is almost always either asking for money or preaching religion. Every now and again you get someone who is lost, but that's rare. It's almost always the first two categories.

And when I say "preaching religion", I generally mean Bible-thumpers. You know the sort. "Have you heard the word of Jesus?" "Have you found Jesus?" (I once pointed someone to the BART agent for directions to lost-and-found). And so on.

So the other day I'm walking from a BART station and an older couple approach me. They're too well-dressed to hit me up for cash (though that's not always an indicator). They don't look lost.

They ask me if I want to hear about Buddhism.

Seriously. I had proselytizers approach me for Buddhism. I didn't even know there was such thing as Buddhist missionaries in the area!

Okay, I guess it's not all that odd, but that particular approach isn't one I tend to associate with Buddhists.

What the hell do I even call someone like that? A Buddha-thumper? I swear 2016 is just trying to out-weird itself.