You never had a stranger hit you with something personal out of the blue? It happens to me routinely. Yesterday I learned that a cashier at the gas station is tired because she moved a few months back and hasn’t finished unpacking but was looking forward to the birthday party her husband was throwing her next week.
Last month I learned a lady had had to move far from her friends and family and hadn’t seen her granddaughter in years, but hadn’t told anyone because she doesn’t have any friends here.
I just ask questions out of genuine curiosity. Sometimes (probably most of the time, tbh) I get surface level answers, but sometimes people need to talk to someone and I’ve been told that I “have one of those faces” that makes it easy to open up. Just because you would feel you are over sharing, and maybe culturally where you are these interactions wouldn’t happen, doesn’t mean they don’t happen or that they can’t.
I asked a waiter why he looked so tired and he relayed along story of how he and his long distance girl saw each other again and they stayed up all night talking about how to navigate this situation and if they should just breakup instead.
I asked a dad about his son at a baseball game and he talked the entire game about his boy, and at game end he was like holy shit I have monopolized this conversation. Lol
The europeans are bewildered by the American sport of small talk. They would be so out of their depth just walking down the street when people start smiling and waving at them.
tbf I’m American and I hate that shit too. I hate when my coworkers do it, I hate when strangers do it. I don’t want to hear your lame repetitive take on the weather, we fucking know, we’re all in the same fucking weather. Just order your sandwich and leave.
Yes really. There’s no way to share that here for people not to think you’re oversharing.
I’m sorry but they won’t lol
You never had a stranger hit you with something personal out of the blue? It happens to me routinely. Yesterday I learned that a cashier at the gas station is tired because she moved a few months back and hasn’t finished unpacking but was looking forward to the birthday party her husband was throwing her next week.
Last month I learned a lady had had to move far from her friends and family and hadn’t seen her granddaughter in years, but hadn’t told anyone because she doesn’t have any friends here.
I just ask questions out of genuine curiosity. Sometimes (probably most of the time, tbh) I get surface level answers, but sometimes people need to talk to someone and I’ve been told that I “have one of those faces” that makes it easy to open up. Just because you would feel you are over sharing, and maybe culturally where you are these interactions wouldn’t happen, doesn’t mean they don’t happen or that they can’t.
I get that too. Good listener vibes, as some say.
I asked a waiter why he looked so tired and he relayed along story of how he and his long distance girl saw each other again and they stayed up all night talking about how to navigate this situation and if they should just breakup instead.
I asked a dad about his son at a baseball game and he talked the entire game about his boy, and at game end he was like holy shit I have monopolized this conversation. Lol
Delicious sparks of human connection! Thank you for sharing.
Not a waiter, definitely. It would be major oversharing here, people just don’t do that.
“Here” being a European country I take it?
The europeans are bewildered by the American sport of small talk. They would be so out of their depth just walking down the street when people start smiling and waving at them.
tbf I’m American and I hate that shit too. I hate when my coworkers do it, I hate when strangers do it. I don’t want to hear your lame repetitive take on the weather, we fucking know, we’re all in the same fucking weather. Just order your sandwich and leave.
I don’t know, smiling and waving doesn’t seem that much out of place in Europe, but depends on specific location a lot
Plenty of places stateside where it’s out of character too
Yes