When someone asks me if I am interrogating them

After being introduced to someone tonight at a friend's birthday party, I asked a question about what she had meant earlier when describing her job.

Within 3 seconds of her starting her reply, I lost any respect or desire to talk to her.

When meeting someone for the first time, occasionally the person mocks the fact that I asked them a direct question. This person said the typical phrase to me: "I didn't realise that this is was an interrogation!", followed by a half-laugh.

I don't know why people respond like this. Maybe the person doesn't believe that I'm actually interested in them, or they somehow find the personal attention overwhelming.

Anyway, this 'mocking an attempt to ask you a question' is an immediate red flag for me. Once I see this flag, I know that no friendship will grow between me and that person.

I'm largely indifferent about being mocked. But I care about the fact the person is intentionally making it harder for me to understand them.

Converting thought into air vibrations - in a way that follows implicit rules sufficiently carefully to transfer meaning into another person's brain - is complicated process.

I don't want to spend any life time with people who deliberately put obstacles in the way of communicating. I want to be friends with open people who answer questions in a direct way, even if just to say that they don't want to talk about it. I don't want friends who mock people's attempts to talk to them.