My first guess is that there’s a certain subpopulation for whom, if you treat their problems casually, joke about them, etc., then they’ll get offended or hurt and cry while pointing a finger at you (perhaps literally), and thereby bring a bunch of social opprobrium upon you; and the acquaintances don’t know enough to distinguish you from that subpopulation, and therefore treat you as though you might be one of them. It’s a “safe” strategy they’re following; the cost to them if they’re wrong is relatively small, compared to the cost to them making the opposite error. (And perhaps they’ve done that all their life and don’t have any practice joking about rough problems.)
(Take all guesses I make, about people I don’t understand, with a big grain of salt.)
My first guess is that there’s a certain subpopulation for whom, if you treat their problems casually, joke about them, etc., then they’ll get offended or hurt and cry while pointing a finger at you (perhaps literally), and thereby bring a bunch of social opprobrium upon you; and the acquaintances don’t know enough to distinguish you from that subpopulation, and therefore treat you as though you might be one of them. It’s a “safe” strategy they’re following; the cost to them if they’re wrong is relatively small, compared to the cost to them making the opposite error. (And perhaps they’ve done that all their life and don’t have any practice joking about rough problems.)
(Take all guesses I make, about people I don’t understand, with a big grain of salt.)