No Stupid Questions

He was probably going to ask you to take a photo or something. It’s fine to say no, but kind of rude to refuse to hear the request.

"You can ask."

You do not owe any random person anything.

(yes really. It may be rude on occasion but you do not owe politeness to just anyone either. And oftentimes politeness is also abused)

'No.' is a complete sentence and you do not have to justify yourself in any way. I don't think that would be considered rude, either.

Well, yes, I would say it's rude if you have no reason to say no. At least hear them out is usually considered nice.

But...

If the person is clearly wanting to sell something to me, or trick me into something, or take advantage of me (typical in touristic places) I would just say "no thanks" and move on.

my usual answer when I'm suspecting some kind of boundary-pushing behavior is "well you can ask..." ...but I have to hear out my psych patients, you don't owe strangers the same obligation.

It would be rude to not even allow them to ask. But it wouldn't be rude to turn down the favor after hearing what it is.

(Seriously: If it's a stranger, it's not rude at all. It's actually more rude to ask a complete stranger for a random favor)

"You can ask."

you are not obligated to speak to a random person in public at all

As some others have said, no, it's not rude to decline. Whether or not it's rude is in how you word it. You were rude in this particular instance.

I don't think it's rude. It's a favor, after all, not expected behavior.

I almost always respond with, "depends on the favor." They could be asking for you to take their picture; they could be asking for $1000 for their MLM. I'm not signing a blank check by answering "yes".

Congrats, you just dodged a fae bargain.

To be not rude, all you have to do is be polite.

If a stranger politely asks if you can do them a favor, you don't have to say yes, and you don't even have to ask what the favor is, but to be polite you do have to non-offensively respond to what they said. Like you can just reply "sorry, I'm busy right now" and keep walking on your way

"Sorry, I can't help you." Why? Because sometimes I hand out random favors, but not today to you.

I think I agree with most of the replies here saying that the way it was handled was rude. If the opening response to me talking to someone was like that, I would feel like, okay, who pissed in your cheerios and I would have walked off.

Like others have said, there's more to the solution than a yes or no. I personally think "depends on the favor" , is a very appropriate response, or a "maybe what do you want" Or if you're planning on saying no regardless, do it how you did, without calling the other person creepy, its just extremly rude to assume someone is a creep while also shutting them down before they can actually talk.

Not at all everyone has their own set of boundaries and if you don't want to do something for a stranger that's OK too.

When I was growing up, attending Jewish day school, my Rabbi taught me that an opportunity to help a stranger is a gift. I would entertain the question and I recommend that you do too in the future. Obviously you don't need to comply with any unreasonable requests but typically a stranger is only going to ask you for something that takes like 2 minutes of your time and no real loss.

Helping people is enriching and will give you a sense of well-being in this fucked up grim world. You come out ahead in these situations. On the flip side, it's clear that refusing this stranger is eating at you at least a little and has done some tiny damage to your soul, strictly figuratively speaking.

That's a con game, you can respond whatever way you like within reason.

Also, "no" is a complete sentence and it is more rude to ignore EPs if person is on fact vulnurable. So stiff no will do the job while letting the person to keep their dignity

Assume they're asking because they want to make sure it's not imposing, in which case it's good to assert boundaries you need too. If they push it was just a manipulation tactic, in which case you're more than justified in walking.

I'd say something like "uhhh what's up?" or "maybe?" and let them ask a specific question since saying yes sort of feels like agreeing to do the favor without knowing what it is first.

"I'm sorry but I really don't have the bandwidth right now."

Rudeness is in the presentation, not the fact.

If you say "fuck off", that's rude.

If you say "I don't do favors for people I don't know" or "I don't take requests from strangers" those are neutral and acceptable facts.

If you say "you can ask, but it doesn't mean I'll do it" that's another neutral and acceptable way to address it if you're willing to see what the favor might be, since some favors might me acceptable.

I tend to be willing to hear the request, but only with the caveat that I will most likely not comply. Last time a stranger asked if I could "help them", my response was "I doubt I can, and I might not, but ask away". They asked, and all they wanted was a light. I no longer smoke, but I carry a lighter. So I checked the surroundings and lit his cig

Years ago, I had a patient that lived in a really shifty area, and folks would approach me on my way up to their apartment. I'd see them coming and before they could reach me, I'd tell them that if they were wanting something to not waste their time, but if they were looking for trouble, they found it.

Which was rude in other circumstances, but necessary in that place at that time.

Your response was acceptable in that time at that place. Not necessarily the friendliest way of phrasing it, but sometimes being friendly doesn't go well.

No

I tend to say something along the lines of "what's your problem?"

Gives an opening to hear more without committing, and makes it clear it's still THEIR problem.