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October 11, 2005

Breezily yours!

Really, how do they do it?! Here I am washing my already cold hands, just waiting to rush out of the even colder restroom, when two of my colleagues walk in, laughing and talking. Well, to be accurate, one woman is a colleague and the other my boss's boss's boss. She (the big boss) makes eye contact with me as she waltzes in and I study my freezing fingers shyly, incapable of making even the most mind-numbing stupid conversation about the weather! The laughing and the talking stops for a few seconds when I stand still, having emitted nothing more than a mumbling sound - a feeble "hi" that came out more like a belated burp.

Not wanting to let go of the flow of her conversation, my breezy colleague, who, I must say looked quite breezy walking in casually (as if she were chatting with her teenage cousin), briskly picks up on the thread of the previous conversation about the weather, softball, recent releases - topics that I could have spoken coherently for at-least 15 minutes. And here I was rushing out while hoping I never ever run into my boss's boss's boss while in the restroom. The point to be noted here is that my colleague barely knew our big boss and still managed, for lack of a better adjective, a breezy conversation. Starting today, am going to learn to be breezy, cool and casual in all my conversational encounters with all women I barely know, professionally speaking ofcourse. Also men I barely know. Period.

12 comments:

Shiva said...

well, I thought you called youself a clearheaded lady in your prev post :)

well, the first rule of consulting business is 'be comfortable when you are around senior management. If you cant, atleast fake it!' :) Looks like you had to learn it the hard way ..

RTD2 said...

Ya..small talk, make up, heels, remembering names of the boss's kids (or their publications, if you're in academia!) casual praising without seeming like a sycophant (or a psycho-fan!)..all tools of the trade. It's not easy at all :(

eyeStreet times said...

Good luck in your new adventure. Give us a weekly update on the small talks you made in that week. Sure you could pull out some interesting ones !!

dinesh said...

Breezy conversation. I wish it was as easy as making up your mind and you can start doing it from the next day. But making up your mind is a start ! So, yeah, give us a progress report :)

Anonymous said...

unbelievable... !! you could not make small talk ? hmmm... really surprising... :)

RS said...

shiva - clearheaded? me? You must have the wrong blog :)

rtd2 - :(

eshwar - I hope they dont become interesting at my expense :)

dinesh - will do,sir.

phil - Think, in an office setting, i just clam up for no reason!

Anonymous said...

cha, almost forgot... DINS, nee angeyum poi Jagadhala Prathapan velai ellam pannirpe...kadi aagi onkooda pesama irundhuru paanunga andha red necks... :p

Senthil said...

This is why I love being a guy - all you have to do when you run into your boss in the rest room is: grunt.

RS said...

Dinesh - umm, sabaila solla vendiya vishayam illa idu :)

Senthil - One more reason why guys just got it made :)

RS said...

Subu - I should just learn to make resolutions that I intend keeping up :)

Krish said...

Change of scenery, RS? Good template :-)

RS said...

Thennavan - Yup! Thanks! This template has problems with firefox too, though :(

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