I get very strong feelings about people when I first meet them. They're not always 100% right, but I'll go with 4 times out of 5.
Sometimes when I meet someone that makes my ass twitch right off the bat, I try and talk myself out of it.
"Now, Sara. You're not being fair. Perhaps he's shy or intimidated by his surroundings. You are wearing a red shirt and that can make people uncomfortable. Give him another chance to not be such a tool!"
Generally, I find that if I have to talk myself into liking someone, my instincts were correct.
Let me give you an example.
You are meeting a few friends at a restaurant. It looks like Madge has brought a new acquaintance with her. We'll call her Darlene.
Now, Madge is a fun-loving gal and plays well with others, so you assume that Darlene is the same. Unfortunately, Darlene sits in her chair like a bump on a log, making no effort to converse with the rest of the table and only holding side conversations with Madge.
You try to throw Darlene a bone by attempting to engage her in conversation.
You: So Darlene, where are you from?
D: Here.
Y: Oh, okay. Do you work, go to school or... ?
D: I work.
Y: Great, where do you work?
D: Wal-Mart.
Y: (Of course you do.) That's cool. So, how do you know Madge?
D: From the gym.
Y: Oh, so did you guys order the same thing at the juice bar or something?
D: They don't have a juice bar.
Y: Ah. (Maybe I should give her a chance to say something.)
--- Ten seconds of uninterrupted silence ---
Y: (Fail.) So, have you been to this restaurant before?
D: Yeah.
Y: Do you like it?
D: I guess.
Y: (I've got it! I'm asking too many y/n questions!) What's your favorite restaurant here? Mine is the Greek place downtown. What about you?
D: I don't know.
Y: (What is wrong with you?) Really? No favorite food or dish somewhere?
D: Not really.
Y: Not a big fan of going out to eat, eh?
D: -shrugs- I think people eat out too much.
Y: (Stupid harpy.) Oh yeah? What makes you say that?
D: I don't know. People should just learn how to cook. It's not that hard.
Y: Well, in all fairness, some people don't always have the time or the skills to-
D: I think people are just lazy.
Y: (What are you trying to say, wench?) Interesting.
--Allow another pause for her to redeem herself.... another ten seconds of silence--
...aaaaaand, scene!
I don't want to say that I like everyone or that everyone likes me, but I pride myself, at the very least, in being able to hold up my end of a conversation and put someone else at ease.
I also feel like I can usually (again, my gut feelings are not flawless) tell the difference between someone who is shy, nervous or uncomfortable and someone who is disinterested, rude or just a useless pile of fungus.
Darlene, quite frankly, is a useless piece of fungus.
Have you ever met someone and immediately disliked them? No? Just me?
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7 comments:
at least you tried?
when i dont like someone off the bat- it usually ends... poorly. my current "oh god no- not him" guy is a completely decent person. unfortunately, he's a solid 10 years older than everyone else in the group. can't maintain a conversation to save his life. constantly references events from when everyone else was in diapers. thinks he's hilarious.
the best part? the boyfriend lives at his brother's house. the brother has a third room. senior obnoxious is moving in on saturday. hooray!
I love carrying on conversations with myself, for I am infinitely more interesting than many people I am forced to converse with. In fact, I'm going to the happy place in my head right now, just like I do every time I hear Fox News or that deranged guy that screams about investments on our tv.
yikes...every group has to have one... i refer to them as "wastes of space", but some people call them wal-mart employees...
ahhhh kill me now!
valiant effort...i think walmart grows their employees on farms (non organically). Its an epidemic.
My Mom calls these types of people "wastes of skin." Gross, and yet, oh so true! To answer your question, I DO get the yucky vibes every once in a while and have the uncanny ability to tell a bad egg from a good one. Like you, I'm not always right, but I think 75-80% is my current accuracy rate.
This was great. I find myself having the same conversations with my 15 year old niece living with us. I'm going to have to master this art in order to succeed.
I was reading through the dialogue and thought, "Don't ask Yes/No questions." But then you switched to allow herself to elaborate and still no success. You tried!
I totally have gotten those feelings. The most was there were two different girls when my DH was playing ball that "only wanted to be friends." Yeah right dude - wake up and smell the coffee.
I was right every single time!
HAHAHA! classic. Stopping by from SITS!
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