Is it rude to make eye contact with someone wearing a Human Cone? (Crambleside)
Moved here from out past the Krevmire border about six months ago and I keep running into people wearing Cones and I truly do not know the etiquette. Where I'm from we didn't have them. Do you acknowledge it? Pretend it's not there? I accidentally held a door open for someone in a Cone last week and they seemed upset but I couldn't tell if it was about the door or the fact that I looked directly at the Cone.
You pretend it's not there. You don't mention it, you don't look at it, you don't hold doors any differently than you would for anyone else. The whole point of the Cone is that the person is already having a bad time. Don't make it worse by noticing.
Exception: if they bring it up first, you're allowed to respond. But keep it brief. Nobody wants to relive whatever got them coned.
In a professional setting, absolutely do not acknowledge it. At a bar, it depends. Some people want to talk. You can usually tell by whether they've decorated it.