AskPippa, (edited ) I used to get bothered all the time on buses -- until one day I learned a trick that for some reason discouraged them. I would pull out a copy of Scientific American. Maybe they thought I was going to hit them with it (though other magazines didn't have this effect), or even scarier, talk science at them.
In fact, in high school I started carrying one around just for this use!@sciam @laurahelmuth