He realizes after some time that his watch has stopped, and says quietly to a young lady walking by "Excuse me, miss, but do you have the time?"

The woman stops short and stares at the man as though he's lost his mind. "HOW DARE YOU!", she screams at him.

He looks around and realizes everyone in the pub is staring, and turns back to his drink.

A few minutes later, the woman walks past him again, brushing his arm. He decides to try to explain, and says "Miss, I was only asking if you could tell me the time."

"Mister, if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to call the Police!" she yells loudly.

The man is by now completely confused and red with embarrassment, so he picks up his drink and retires to a dark booth in the corner of the pub.

A little while later, the same woman approaches the booth and sits across from the perplexed man. She reaches across the table to take his hand and says quietly "I'm really sorry I had to do that, but I'm a student doing research on the effects of embarrassment in public. I hope there are no hard feelings."

The man smiles widely.

"YOU MEAN YOU'LL DO THAT ALL NIGHT FOR TEN BUCKS?" he screams.