"I am sure you guessed by now I am a native-born Oregonian" I quipped.
I think I am funny and the best part is that I am also the first to laugh at my own "jokes." It doesn't take much for me to keep me amused!
That was at the haircut place a couple of days ago. My best find ever--not because they laugh at my jokes. If you think about it, the women--yes, I have not seen a male personnel there--hold the upper-hand during the few minutes there: I am seated without my glasses while they hold weapons. Yet, I risk my life (ahem!) with my awful humor.
Rarely ever do I see the same personnel there. I guess the turnover is high, which should not be a surprise given the $9.99 for a haircut. But then not ever having the same people is an advantage for me--I can recycle the same old jokes!
One of my standard questions in the mandatory small-talk is "so, you been doing this for a while?"
"Oh, since December."
I wondered whether it was only in December that she got her licence and then started at the entry level position of the haircut business. I know how it works in the teaching business--the fresh out of school are some of the worst providers of service, when it comes to teaching. We don't have a freaking clue and we try to put on a show as we learn the tricks of the trade. "As long as she does not lop my ear off" I thought to myself.
She sneezed. Which then provided another topic for small-talk. I have come to understand that interesting small-talk is like improv comedy. Like observational comedy. The more the talk is about what is happening right then and there, the more engaged the people get. That context, for instance, was not the place for me to ask her "so, how about that Putin in Crimea?"
When she sneezed, it then became an opportunity to talk about the pollen this time of the year. "Allergies, eh,"
"Yeah. This year is the first time it is bad."
"Are you an Oregon native, or from somewhere else?"
"A true Oregonian. One of the rare ones" she replied.
Of course, small-talk etiquette means that you lob back the ball. (Such a language coming from a sports-challenged person!)
"How about you?" she asked me.
Which is when I quipped, "I am sure you guessed by now I am a native-born Oregonian." And, of course, I chuckled.
"Oh, your accent is only mild" she was gracious. She knows her trade secret--keep the customer happy.
If only in every interaction in life we brought with us such small-talk etiquette. We would then always be paying attention to the goings-on and making contextual observations. To a person who is celebrating, we might say something that will be different from a person dragging his feet--literally or metaphorically.
Maybe the real problem is that we do not know how to engage in small-talk. Maybe that is the first lesson that Putin needs. Somebody needs to start a conversation with him with "hey Vlad, it is "get rid of the tartar" and not "get rid of the Tatar."
2 comments:
I wonder what would have happened if you had gone to the the original "Old Country" instead of the "New World". If you indulged in small talk on Devon, for example, you would have been told Pip Pip.Perhaps the stiff upper lip would have developed.
By the way, I've asked this question before - why in the first place are you going for a a hair cut ???
I shudder at the very thought of trapped in a stiff-upper-lip culture ... OMG!!! :(
Only a couple more years remain for haircuts, I guess ... :( :(
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