Everyone talks to the barber.
Turns out one of the security guards came to get his hair cut and was moaning about how tired his arms were from unloading the vans and putting it all in the vault.
The other thing is that decades of motorcycling without ear plugs has rooted my hearing, so talking to people with thick accents (I'd say 50% of hairdressers here are immigrants) can't be tiring, which is the opposite of why I actually enjoy getting my hair cut. There's a nice Korean lady I sometimes see who chats away merrily, but I feel like an arsehole having to ask her to repeat herself the whole time.
Aussie?
In any case, you may not have good hearing, but at least you have good hair!
"The gearbox is totally f&^ked! Oh, sorry Cheryl, didn't see you there. I mean it's rooted."
My girlfriend always finds a way to start conversations with ever driver but I rarely ever do unless I’m in some peppy mood.
The pressure to talk to barbers seems much higher though.
I like to talk to people I'm friends with, so far that has not included any of my hairdressers, so I sit there in silence, answering when spoken to and being generally friendly, but not initiating any conversation.
After the cut we often used to go out for a meal and then we'd chat for hours.
The cut was a business transaction, the meal was between friends.
WHAT? I am paying for a service. I expect that service to be completed well. And it typically is. The service I am paying for does not include nor warrant "small talk", why should it?
> has zero downside
Incorrect. I have to pretend to be interested in whatever inane topic they want to discuss, or ones I don't have any interest in or care about. I have to use my brain power on a useless distraction.
> a meaningful conversation
I don't want a meaningful conversation from a haircut. Nor do I want it while shopping, or a mechanics shop, or any other random ass place where I am trying to get errands done. Service, money, done. Nothing else needed. Not everyone wants to deal with -you- or your fake ass pleasantries. I don't want to deal with someone pretending to know me, or like me, or be nice because _its literally their job_. I want to pay for my services and go away.
When a talkative barber asked him [Archelaus, king of Macedonia], ‘How should I cut your hair?’ he said, ‘In silence!’
— Plutarch
There have not been enough "HN moments" recently but here we are ... following a thread on spies, we perfectly segue into a quote from Plutarch, that is not only on point and unforced, but in the orignal Greek.
You have restored my lost faith in social media, my recently-signed-up friend - long may you enjoy our weird corner of the internet. We have cookies.
But we block 'em.