Learn what "small talk" means
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| Small Talk |
| When people ask me what I do, it always throws me. |
| I know the question is coming; it is, after all, standard small talk; but I never seem to be prepared for it. |
| It's like asking me what I am, and that is, by no means, a small subject. |
| Right now, what I do and what I am are Mommy. |
| When I tell people that I am a stay-at-home-mom, most nod and say, "Oh, uh-huh," and then look frantically around the room for an easy way out. |
| I think that they assume I am about to launch into a detailed, scrapbook-aided description of my daughter and our days together. |
| The thing is, I know that most people are not interested in those details. |
| They wanted a simple answer like "I work in IT" or "I'm a teacher." |
| Not that either of those answers are simple. It's just that they are easy to understand and easy to dismiss. |
| But when what I did, and what I was were teach, I would occasionally get the follow-up small-talk question. |
| "Oh, what do you teach?" |
| When they heard "English," there was usually a nervous chuckle and one of the following, "Oh, I guess I better watch my grammar around you, huh?" |
| or my personal favorite "I hated English in high school, no offense." |
| Now why would I take offense? I didn't teach them. |
| It seems ridiculous to me that people treat what you do and what you are as fodder for small talk. |
| Why not ask about my earrings or my favorite sitcom? |
| These are subjects that I have no real emotional attachment to. |
| If the person who has just engaged me in conversation gets bored and looks away, I will not be offended. |
| After all, I do not attach my personal worth to my love of "CSI." |
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