When was the last time you made small-talk with a stranger in your age group?
- Thread starter Brawndo
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I can't remember the last time I made small talk with someone I didn't know. I am terrible at it.
Does it count if they really aren't strangers anymore? I make smalltalk all the time with people in my classes, people that are doing interesting things, really quite a few people. Really depends on my mood how often I do this. Hell did it just after work the other day. People are still interesting, and always willing to talk. You just have to find the right ones.
I make small talk with a few of my friends but that is about it. I talk only when I feel the need to talk. Making small talk with strangers is something I don't feel the need to do. If someone I don't know comes up and talks to me I will be polite and talk to them. I will try to think of way to end the conversation quickly too.
A few days ago. Someone who regularly makes my sandwiches at subway asked me how I was and what I was up to whilst she made it. I answered, but forgot to return the question - was a little surprised at someone talking to me. Because I'm a sucker for politeness, I'm going to go back soon just so that I can return the question and relieve myself of the guilt of being rude, as well as any possible implication that I didn't care about them as a human because they were working in retail.
I'm a newspaper photographer and the stuff we do that isn't hard news, fires, car crashes, storms etc. which turns out to be most of the stuff we do, requires me to have a rapport with my subject, so I make small talk with everyone. From three to one hundred.
Same here. Doesn't come easy for me, nor frequent.-Zen- said:
OT: It's been forever since my last "small talk" conversation.
Well I was randomly talking to these people in my friend's house, but they were 4 years younger than me, and I was more telling them where things were in his house to make tea.
Saying that, festivals for some reason are an amazing time to talk to randomers. Last festival I went with one person, and because of that we wandered around and got a group of about 10 of us in the end, all of whom had never met, just from small talk.
Saying that, festivals for some reason are an amazing time to talk to randomers. Last festival I went with one person, and because of that we wandered around and got a group of about 10 of us in the end, all of whom had never met, just from small talk.
Because "Strangers are friends you haven't met yet."Judas Iscariot said:
Srsly.
I find that alot of people don't want to talk, but I find just as many that do. Maybe it's just the college you're at. I was home sick all day yesterday and today but I made small talk with this guy I know from uni at the shops on monday, he just bought a ticket to japan for the holidays. We dicussed whether travel insurance was worth while and made a joke or two about bogus insurance claims. Discussed japanese cars for a bit then we went our seperate ways.
I've spoken to this guy maybe 2-5 times before that occasion. It's not hard to get people talking, just ask about stuff in class, make them laugh.
This afternoon, popped into a subway for lunch [my sister works there and I get free meals so long as the boss isn't around 
] and spotted an old friend from high school in there, ordered my food, asked if I could sit with her, and chatted away till she had to go back to work.
And being a freelance photographer for the local newspaper [Jobs are hard to come by in my town, so freelance is better than nothing], you wind up meeting up with people quite a bit, so it's not hard to find people you know around town and talking to them. [Helps I suppose that my dad was a photographer for both the Toronto Star and both of my regions local newspapers before his vision started to go, so everyone knows him and by extension, me]
Personally I can't stand cell phones, I've got one that I have for emergencies, otherwise I prefer to talk face to face. [I'm so unused to talking on the phone that it's almost impossible for me, if I can't see their face, I don't like it]
And I can't stand people who just ignore you if you aren't one of their close friends, like they think your going to attack them the second they turn around or something, it's just weird.
] and spotted an old friend from high school in there, ordered my food, asked if I could sit with her, and chatted away till she had to go back to work.And being a freelance photographer for the local newspaper [Jobs are hard to come by in my town, so freelance is better than nothing], you wind up meeting up with people quite a bit, so it's not hard to find people you know around town and talking to them. [Helps I suppose that my dad was a photographer for both the Toronto Star and both of my regions local newspapers before his vision started to go, so everyone knows him and by extension, me]
Personally I can't stand cell phones, I've got one that I have for emergencies, otherwise I prefer to talk face to face. [I'm so unused to talking on the phone that it's almost impossible for me, if I can't see their face, I don't like it]
And I can't stand people who just ignore you if you aren't one of their close friends, like they think your going to attack them the second they turn around or something, it's just weird.
If there's someone in my class who I don't know well, I'll try to strike up a conversation with them. If I want to. And they look interesting. I don't try to talk to people when they're listening to music, or texting, since I wouldn't want to be bothered if I was doing that. But it becomes a problem when people are constantly doing those things.
I guess if you're on the bus, and there's no one on that bus, then you'll probably just listen to music or use your phone - it's not like you're on the bus to make friends. People probably just prefer to be left alone. And it's a lot easier to pretend to be busy when you can Twitter from your phone.
I actually talk to strangers a lot, especially those who are my age, since I protest regularly - but that's different, because I'm putting myself out there for people to approach me and ask me questions. Another difference is that everyone there is in the same boat - usually we all don't know one another, and so we all need to make friends. When everyone else is already in a clique, they have no need to open themselves to anyone else if they don't want to.
I guess if you're on the bus, and there's no one on that bus, then you'll probably just listen to music or use your phone - it's not like you're on the bus to make friends. People probably just prefer to be left alone. And it's a lot easier to pretend to be busy when you can Twitter from your phone.
I actually talk to strangers a lot, especially those who are my age, since I protest regularly - but that's different, because I'm putting myself out there for people to approach me and ask me questions. Another difference is that everyone there is in the same boat - usually we all don't know one another, and so we all need to make friends. When everyone else is already in a clique, they have no need to open themselves to anyone else if they don't want to.
I agree. I love conversations with strangers, but don't get to as often as i'd like.
The most recent occasion was this morning with a lady in a shop.
The most recent occasion was this morning with a lady in a shop.