When was the last time you had a face to face conversation with a total stranger for more than two minutes?

Yesterday

Good for you^^

All the time.

I think I honestly talk to strangers more than people I actually know. Ha.

Saturday night during trick or treat. I try to have a scowl on my face so people won’t talk to me, but they do anyway.

Often. I live in the country. That’s what we do.

Like @raum I talk with everybody. Strangers in the grocery line, people about their dogs, somebody looking at sweaters in Macy’s, anybody.

Halloween night, sucker looked like Dracula & had the bloody cheek to ask for a lollipop.
I released the hounds on the silly count!

This happens to me very frequently. I spend a couple of hours every day at an eldercare and retirement facility. New patients and residents, trying to adjust to changed circumstances, feel less disoriented, and more secure, when they talk with someone. It’s the same for the people’s families; they’re reassured by getting a feel for the place and asking questions.

Oh gosh. Recently.

Just in case you haven’t noticed, I LOVE to talk!!! I also NEVER meet a stranger. So, almost daily I make a new friend!!! The restaurant where I eat my lunch almost every day has really good home-cooked food & also has a large clientele many of who are older & can no longer cook for themselves. Their children have all but abandoned them & many are just plain lonely. When I see that they’ve come in to eat more than once, I speak to them as they come or go. After a few days, they begin to stop at my table for a quick chat. That quick chat usually turns into them sitting down with me & we have a REAL conversation about anything they feel the need to discuss. We eventually share phone numbers & we also become phone friends.When they tell me about all their aches & pains, I don’t roll my eyes like their children do & I often have some insight into what they have & offer some suggestions as some Q’s to ask their doctor. I’ve been there to comfort them when their spouse passes on & I get them out of the house to go to the grocery store or a local big box store so they don’t have to go alone. We all grew up hearing that there is “safety in numbers” & they feel safer with a friend by their side.

This also helps to fill my time & helps me to feel as though I’m serving a useful purpose & I have a reason to get out of the house more often. You’re correct when you say the art of conversation is gradually being lost!!! It drives me insane when I hear a pretty young girl talking about her date on Saturday night only to discover that she’s chatting with some guy that she’s NEVER met who doesn’t even live in the same country & she’s worried about being faithful to a guy she doesn’t really know!!!

Today. A salesman came to my door. It was more of a one sided conversation though.

A couple of years ago with a pair of Mormon missionaries.

Where’d you bury them @ragingloli?

In my belly.

Yep.

Just yesterday some woman was reading me my rights, and I kept interrupting her with questions like, “Are you Miranda?”; “If you aren’t Miranda, do you have her phone number?”; “Can my statements be used against me in a basketball court, on a tennis court, or just the one you mentioned?”

My incessant flow of questions kept causing her to lose her place, so she had to keep restarting her spiel. I guess our conversation lasted for about a half hour.

One from a few years ago stands out. I was at the drug store waiting for a script to be filled. I sat down next to a lady on a bench and proceeded to tell her about the time I peed on a possum out at the lake. She laughed out loud and said, “I’d like to hear the explanation you would give at the hospital as to how you got bit on your butt!” And we both laughed.
But I didn’t get bit on my butt because possums are pacifists.

Today. I was in a café and a lady struck up a conversation with me about traveling and her nephew who is graduating from boot camp.

Then I went to have a medical test done and I was talking with the technician who did it about her bathroom and me getting my bathroom upgraded. We talked about finishes and flooring and faucets and stuff.

Live fast, eat trash

This morning at around 11.00am but it can be days.

Often. Usually while standing in the long line at CVS.

Yesterday. I taught a young woman how to pick the best bananas and tomatoes at the market.

What’s a stranger? Never met one. I’ve met lots of people I had never met before, but that is just an opportunity to learn more in my book. I talk to people I’ve never met before all the time. Just yesterday for a few minutes in the morning for example. My job brings me in contact with people I’ve never met before all the time.

@filmfann – Me too! I love my CVS but they are crazy busy.

^And speaking of CVS, they give out 3 feet of coupons on each visit!