The last time someone I didn't know tried to talk to me on public transport I moved to another seat.
[flagged]
The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
11–20 of 175 posts
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#12For people who work in defense, strangers randomly talking to them is always a sticky point.
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#13I'm always surprised that so few people on planes talk to each other. It is amazing how a talk to the person next to you on a plane can turn a boring, multiple hour long flight into a nice experience that feels way shorter.
On the other hand, I’ve seen not an insignificant number of cases where someone overstepped a boundary by forcing a conversation on someone who was clearly not into it. I think it’s ok to try, but given the context, cultural differences, legal requirement to stay in your assigned seat, it might be easy to get confused about consent.
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#14I'm always surprised that so few people on planes talk to each other. It is amazing how a talk to the person next to you on a plane can turn a boring, multiple hour long flight into a nice experience that feels way shorter.
I find a good book or movie makes the plane ride feel shorter. Talking to the person next to me so often ends up in an awkward situation when the conversation becomes tedious and boring, but it would be rude to just stop talking to them and move on to my book.
If I dont start talking to the person, I don’t have that problem.
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#15I'm always surprised that so few people on planes talk to each other. It is amazing how a talk to the person next to you on a plane can turn a boring, multiple hour long flight into a nice experience that feels way shorter.
actually it used to be like that in earlier days of airliners.
it was a social experience.
but those days also had a darker side, like having a dress code for passengers...
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#16Not so long ago, I was having my first cup of coffee in a hotel restaurant. A woman sat down directly across from me and started off with how nice it was to have someone to chat with.
Um. No. I was polite, but...no. I had no interest in learning who she was, why she was there, or what she did for a living. I heard all of that anyway. Look, I haven't put on my social facade yet and I am not interested.
You're next to me on the train? I have zero interest in talking to you.
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#17The cultural differences about this are vast even in the United States. In the part of the Midwest where I grew up, strangers would come up and offer compliments about your outfit or car, make friendly small talk in the grocery store checkout line, or at least offer a quiet "hi" and smile when passing on the sidewalk. In the Pacific Northwest, we try not to even look at each other when passing, although people are friendly when something does get us talking.
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#18The last time someone I didn't know tried to talk to me on public transport I moved to another seat.
Did they ask you to please remove your bag so they could sit next to you?
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#19The last time someone I didn't know tried to talk to me on public transport I moved to another seat.
i hope you found the time to excuse yourself
Re: The vital art of talking to strangers (2021)
#20Not so long ago, I was having my first cup of coffee in a hotel restaurant. A woman sat down directly across from me and started off with how nice it was to have someone to chat with. Um. No. I was polite, but...no. I had no interest in learning who she was, why she was there, or what she did for a living. I heard all of that anyway. Look, I haven't put on my social facade yet and I am not interested. You're next to…
[flagged]