Saturday, November 30, 2013
On Sitting Between Two People Having a Conversation
Every so often one has occasion to be
stuck between two people having a conversation. In some cases, those to one’s
left and right are acquaintances and one is content to listen to the friendly
chatter. In other cases, those on either side are complete strangers. When this
happens it is usually due to no fault of one’s own. First, one pretends not to
be listening, however this pretense soon proves unnecessary as the
conversationalists become so engrossed in discussion you feel they have
forgotten you are there. At this point one contemplates if there is possibility
to move or if it would be rude to insert oneself into the conversation with the
suggestion of changing seats with one of them. Usually by the time this thought
occurs, though, a decent amount of time has already past and it would only be
an embarrassment to do the later when something might occur soon to break up
the conversation. Sitting it out, there is not much one can do other than wait
for the conversation to be over or the opportunity to remove oneself (all preferably
before one looses patience and points out that WWI started in 1914, not 1917). And if nothing
else is gained, at least one will have had the opportunity to exercise some patience
or gained an idea for something to write about. ♥
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I think we've all been there. However my mind can't get past the fact that people still don't know that WWI started in 1914 after the assassination and not when the US entered the war in 1917. But then, I don't understand most math and science equations. :-/ I was always the book/history nerd.
ReplyDeleteI know, it was driving me crazy because they kept reassuring each other of it (I think they'd just taken a history test) and it was clear that they were sure it began then (they also thought it ended in the mid-20's). But as you pointed out, not everyone is good in every subject area, which I'm pretty sure was the case with them and history.
DeleteExcellent summery of this kind of situation. It's always a tad unnerving I find to suddenly be sandwiched between two strangers talking, especially if the subject of their conversation seems to be a private/intimate one. Perhaps just as awkward though is if one person says something funny and you have to stifle the urge to laugh. No matter what, it's not that fun and I can't get out of the situation quickly enough (being uber shy probably doesn't help me there).
ReplyDeleteBig hugs (the first from my new computer :)),
♥ Jessica
The more seemingly private conversations are especially unfun to sit to through, it always makes me want to jump in and say "hello, I'm still here and you don't know me, do you really want to have this conversation right now?" when that happens. And I certainly agree, the sooner you can get away the better! :)
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