#153 — Small Talk
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As a general rule, I avoid any situation where I might have to engage in extended small talk with complete strangers. This includes parties, mixers, networking events and my annual physical. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that I’m as well-equipped for small talk as an M1 Abrams tank is for sailing.
For me, meeting people at a casual social gathering is an invitation to disaster.
“Hi, I’m Kevin,” I’ll stick out my hand in a friendly manner and hope they’re the kind of person who isn’t particularly interested in people named Kevin.
They’ll share their name and my brain will immediately file it in long-term, irretrievable storage right next to the last known location of my car keys, my wife’s birthday, and the reminder to pick up the dry-cleaning on the way home. My brain is essentially lazy and figures that tossing things out is easier than remembering them.
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Like this excerpt? Want the whole story? Listen to the audio version by clicking the ‘Play’ button at the top of this post. If you’d rather read it, you can find the full text at http://myfavoriteshortcomings.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/small-talk/
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Notes:
- Belated thanks to Chas Hathaway and Shane McAfee for their kind comments. You’ll find them on-line at:
http://chas.willowrise.com
http://bdgjm.blogspot.com - Thanks, also, to Twitter pal Colin (http://twitter.com/colboy) for some encouraging words.
- If you haven’t listened to my interview with Susie at How To Grow Your Geek, yet, please hurry on over and download it.
http://www.howtogrowyourgeek.net/2009/05/04/htgyg-show-33-talking-with-kevin-cummings-from-short-cummings-audio/ - Finally, I am looking for comments on my book idea … especially your thoughts on which essays to include. Please e-mail me at kevin [at] yahoo -dot- com or post in the comments space below.
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Thank you so much for promoting BDGJM. It means a lot to me that a writer I respect so much enjoys my blog.
I hear you with the small talk thing. It’s especially hard if you aren’t big on sports or current events.
I did have a friend once who made the best small-talk ever, if you can call it small-talk. We’ll have not seen each other in a month, and we’d see each other at a cafe, and the conversation would start something like this:
Him: “Hey!”
Me: “Hey”
Him: “I just found out that Volkswagon Beetles were originally war vehicles.”
Me: “Oh, really?”
We would then launch into a hearty conversation about WWII fighting machines. Other times it was about the origin of the Gothic languages or the Vikings.
Now that’s what I call small-talk.
- Chas
http://chas.willowrise.com