I know there can be different reasons for it but it seems like our society thinks that silence is a nice way of turning someone down.
I don't go out of my way to engage with strangers but if someone goes in my path or clearly calls out to me, I either help them or I don't. I don't ignore them or pretend I didn't see them. I can have change jingling in my pocket and if someone asks for it, I just tell them no.
It would have been easy for Nance to say "what's up man, I'm not signing now but catch me at the game and I'll try to get you there".
I can def say that I doubt I wouldve been oblivious to the kid since we're walking in the middle of the quad. I also feel like since I wasnt already engaged on my phone or something that I would have heard the kids request. Me being me, I just said "Nah..." and kept it moving. Too little was going on for me to just ignore him.