The value of small talk

Kent likes to brag on my ability to get people to tell me things, and I guess he’s right—they do. But honestly it’s just that everyone has a story and wants to tell it. I happen to like to hear the stories.

A friend of mine asked for help in making small talk and eventually confessed he thought it was too much work and he didn’t see the reward other than maybe not being seen as socially awkward. So this post is my answer to his complaint.

Sunday I l flew from Boston to San Diego and got the first class upgrade for the Boston > Minneapolis leg of the trip. That fact is important for two reasons—it determined the outcome and reduced the audience. I always chit-chat with the flight attendants and Sunday was no exception. As we were served breakfast, I asked the flight attendant (Rick) if he were going to eat. We spoke briefly and then he moved on.

Maybe 15 minutes later, he dropped a note on my tray that said:

List the 4 state capitals that start with the same letter as their states.

Well I was never very good at state capitals but I do enjoy puzzles so I started running through the list of capitals I did know. He stopped by a time or two to see how I was doing and to see if I were playing—and I was. He told me he’d played this game with a group of teachers on one flight and they failed but the Canadian sitting in the same section nailed all four without hesitation. Then he mentioned there might be a prize. Those who know me also know I’m pretty competitive so I worked even harder to come up with all four.

Long story short, I did name all four (and didn’t need to list all 50 states to get there), I had a nice diversion on my flight and walked off the plane with the prize from Rick—a pretty decent bottle of red wine.

No I'm not going to tell you the answers. You can either figure it out or look it up on Google.