Rudeness?

I'd have said the same and probably challenged him back after he said no one cares for your opinion, my response would have been 'why ask for then'? and it probably would of got a bit ugly after that. I've had charity chuggers say similar stuff to me, when I've refused to give them money or sign up for monthly direct debits.

The busker guy was rude and why was he going round tables hassling a cafe/restuarants customers? Was that with the permission of the management of the establishment?

Are you still thinking about it because your partner said he'd think you were rude? I think that's the bit that would have me thinking about it for hours afterwards. I'd find that confusing and upsetting, why aren't they suporting you, why does your partner care about what a stranger thinks?

I think buskers and the like have a nerve to expect everyone to enjoy thier performance, I have a particular dislike of electric buskers, where they have an amp and a backing track that they play along too. There's also a guy in Bangor who sits there whistling, whistling hits some sort of kill switch in my brain and I have to really conciously hold myself together not to beat him to a pulp.

Busking like this is a form of noise pollution, only we're all supposed to like it and suck it up if we don't because people will think we're kill joys...and I care because?

Lotus said:

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"

My dad always used to say to me growing up to “engage brain before mouth” . I am not sure if he drilled that into me because I perhaps came across as being too direct. I don’t think there was much wrong with what Samuel50 said as I appreciate honesty even if it can sometimes not be what you want to hear. I wish I was able to deliver my honest opinion these days instead of just trying to please others. I have experienced a singer in a restaurant just before last Christmas and wasn’t prepared for it, to make it worse there was only one table between us. She was very good but it was far too loud and everyone was talking very loudly as they could not hear each other, it felt like an explosion had gone off in my head. On the positive side she had already been paid so no tips required. 

I can understand your response and situations like that would cause me to think about it long after the event, although I know the thoughts mightn’t be productive. I rarely have cash with me so it is likely I would have said “No, I’m sorry” and possibly added "I haven’t cash”. These days charity collectors and some buskers carry those portable card payment machines, so the “no cash” mightn’t be a useful answer. In that situation, I might say “I’m sorry, I can’t at the moment”. 

Your thoughts about the singer appear perfectly valid and to me, your response was direct and honest. I don’t know If it was necessarily autistic and I’m not the best person to make a judgement on this, but I have learned that not everyone always wants your opinion in a situation like that. Probably I wouldn’t have given my thoughts on not enjoying the music, but if my mood is low I might. I’ve often been told I’m too direct. It’s a difficult one, because you gave constructive criticism, and maybe that is what the singer needed to hear. You never know, the singer might have been thinking for hours about what he said to you, and wondering if he was wrong to ask for tips. 

I mean he sounds pretty rude himself if I'm honest with his response but I guess it's human nature not to love criticism. I get you'd found his singing annoying but I guess for him, that's how he earns his living. You certainly were not obligated to give him a tip but you probably could have just said no thank you.

The fact you didn't enjoy his singing isn't an opinion. If it were me, I'd be obsessing over not challenging that with the annoying blighter when he said "thanks for your opinion" rather than worrying about whether he thought I was rude.

You're still thinking about it 6 hours later because that's what autistic brains tend to do - keep going over something that felt uncomfortable or "not quite right" and evaluating everything that happened. I find that my mind searches for alternative things I might have said or done, and then tries to work out what would have happened as a response in each scenario, to try to be prepared to deal with things better in the future.

I think that the response that Overwhelmed & underwhelmed suggested of saying "sorry, I don't carry cash" is a good one, so maybe keep that in mind.

Actually I would have been pretty annoyed if someone had been singing near me when I was trying to eat a meal and then had been interrupted by them asking for money You didn't actually do anything wrong in this instance, but people get hurt feelings and NT world is very much based on feelings. I try to remember something I heard years ago: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"

You can still think it though, or write it on here anonymously to get things 'off your chest' as they say!