Posted by spoc on April 17, 2004, at 9:44:40
In reply to Re: Small Talk » spoc, posted by noa on April 17, 2004, at 8:57:55
> I guess it could be worse! Just think of what it's like for an introspective cabbie with all those talky fares. I'm sure they learn how to tune out after a while, but it must be awful when they get the ones who insist on asking them a lot of questions in addition to talking their ears off.>
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This is ironic, because I realize that due to my self-conciousness I've been on both sides of this one. Sometimes silence makes me uncomfortable, even though I have no need to talk whatsoever. When I first moved to this big city, I had probably been in a cab two times in my whole life on trips. And even then, with my host with me. So initially it felt very bizarre to me to get in a car with someone and say nothing. I would chatter even if I totally didn't feel like it! Bet tourists are the number one perpetrators of this!
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> On airplanes, I've had people tell me their whole life story! Sometimes it is interesting but other times it is a pain in the neck! >
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Hmmm, since we probably don't want to be cruel enough to start hacking in this situation, some good strategies might be: beginning to yawn and comment on how you only got two hours of sleep, then at the first chance laying your head back and closing your eyes. But that could be boring. So other ways might be to bring reading material inside of some kind of binder that can make it pass for work you have to catch up on; or bring a Walkman with some "meeting" or "seminar" recordings you must listen to ("drat! I really don't feel like doing this now, but...")! ;- )
poster:spoc
thread:336541
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040414/msgs/337130.html