“Nice day.”
“Think it’ll rain?”
“Cold enough for you?”
All standard phrases we hear over and over. I’m not much for small talk. Whenever I’m in a situation where I need to make conversation, I look for a more meaningful topic. One day, I was sitting in the chair having my hair cut. A photo of the man’s wife and children adorned the dresser. I asked, “Why did you become a hair stylist?”
His reply began, “Well, I flunked out of college.” I immediately wished I’d stuck with the weather. He continued, “The counselor told me I would do well in a profession involving people. I’d done Mom’s hair a few times while she was recovering from surgery. I’d enjoyed it so I went to beauty school.”
We were in a distant town, attending the wedding of one of my husband’s colleagues. During a conversation with a woman I didn’t know, she asked one of the usual get acquainted questions, “Where are you from?” When I said Durand, she responded, “Oh, do you know my brother?”
When she mentioned his name, I knew my husband had arrested the man. I said, “The name is familiar, but I don’t know him.”
I’m not the only one who got a shock from a routine question. My friend, Carol, is a nurse in the hospital emergency room in a nearby city. She met a patient with a familiar last name and asked the woman, “A couple with the same name belongs to our church. Are you related?”
The woman vehemently replied, “She stole my husband.” Another time the weather would have been a better topic.
Do you stick to small talk with people you don’t know well or take a chance with more meaningful conversation?
I enjoy learning a bit more about the people we meet at the five euchre group we attend in the Madison area so if there is a pause in the action, I will often ask a question of the person sitting there with me. The answers are often interesting & revealing. Once I asked a fellow about his wife, and he said, “The woman is a saint as I used to be an alcoholic.” This was rather a surprise. Another time, I asked a fellow if he had a hobby, and he said that he volunteered at the Vilas Zoo in Madison, and we had an interesting talk about that. People are much more than they appear.