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Sounds like me in a way... I love to talk to someone interesting one on one, but I don't tend to interact as much as a group.

I do have a theory that a lot of the people who engage you in smalltalk also have similar dislike for the practice, but they've been assured again and again that this is something they must do.

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Next time someone asks 'What do you do?' (and it is obvious they are just going through the motions)

As an experiment, I recommend you try this: 'Do you really want to talk about that? Let's talk about something we both find interesting'

The question is what are you both going to find interesting? Smalltalk is what you're doing while you try to find something that you're both interested in.

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