You see a man on the bus and he has a stutter...

... and he is trying to ask for directions. The stuttering man walks up to someone sitting down.

"E-ex-ex-excuse me, but wh-wh-what stop is the b-b-b-bank?"

The person briefly glaces to the stuttering man... then he looks down and doesn't answer. You think this is pretty unusual! Why didn't the man respond at all? Maybe he didn't quite hear the question in the first place.

The stuttering man tries again and gets his attention.
"E-excuse me, s-s-sir."
The man sitting down looks up to him again.

*Okay good, it seems he can hear him and could help now* you think to yourself

"I w-w-would r-r-really like to know w-wh-wh-where the b-b-bank is!"

The other man still does not answer. In fact, he *shakes his head* ever so slightly and looks down again.

"S-s-sir, please!"

The man still doesn't respond. Now you are getting pretty upset. Sure, a stutter may be frustrating, but imagine how it frustrating it must be for the speaker! How awful that this man just continues to ignore this man with a stutter. That is just awful!

"S-s-sir?" With no other response, you are fed up and go first to the man with the stutter and say "Sir, the bank is at the next stop. You may get off there and it will be just a block to the east."

"Th-th-thank you!" the man responds. You are relieved and somewhat proud that you were able to help.

After the poor stuttering man exits the bus to go to the bank, you turn your attention to the man sitting down. You are certainly upset with him, but you try to be calm and gentle to avoid making more of a scene. But you still want to know what the man's damn problem was.

"Sir, sorry to point this out but it appeared to me that you were blatantly ignoring the man with the stutter. This was unusual and I don't think he was being annoying or intrusive in any way. May I ask why you did not respond to him?"

The man had his head down this whole time, but finally looks up to you. He had a sad expression. He finally lets out a sigh and responds, ...

"Well... I d-d-di-didn't want him to t-th-think I was m-m-ma-making f-f-fu-fun of him." :(