Two incidents that reveal the treatment of Walter Mitty by other members of society and their attitudes toward him are the following:
- Mitty takes his car to a garage in order to have the snow chains removed. Walter feels that the attendant is "so cocky" as he orders Walter out of the car so that he can properly place it in the designated spot.
- While Mitty is walking on the sidewalk past the buildings of Waterbury, a woman passes him and starts to laugh. "That man said 'Puppy biscuit' to himself." She thinks Walter is saying nonsensical things to himself.
- Incident #1
Walter Mitty is daydreaming after his wife has gone to the hairdresser and he is on the way to an automotive garage to have the winter chains taken off his car's tires. He is not aware of what he is doing as he pulls into the garage. The attendant shouts at him, "Back it up, Mac! Look out for that Buick!" Startled, Mitty slams on the brakes. "Wrong lane, Mac," calls the attendant this time. Finally, he tells Mitty to just leave his car where it is and he will put the car away. Quickly, the attendant jumps in and backs up the car with "insolent skill."
- Incident #2
As Walter Mitty walks out of the garage, he reminds himself of "overshoes" and goes into a shoe store. After purchasing the overshoes, he treks along the street toward the A & P grocery store, and this time he quietly says to himself, "Puppy biscuit" in order to remind himself. However, a woman hears him talking to himself, and she laughs aloud. She tells her companion that the man who just passed "...said 'Puppy Biscuit' to himself."
It is apparent that in real life Walter Mitty seems ridiculous to others. However, in his daydreams, Mitty is a hero, "Undefeated, inscrutable to the last."
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