The Rundown
Jason Shellen
20 years ago
Ian welcomes the end of small talk and the rise of the 'rundown':
The rundown might seem a bit nosy however, small talk, in most cases, is a poor excuse for 'adding humanity' to speaking with the phone company or a bank employee. Small talk, in essence, is a buffer from showing true emotion or stating your real feelings. I wonder what the balance between being polite and courteous and cutting to the chase will be?
(She)..defines small talk as 'the conversation we're supposed to be having' and the rundown as 'the conversation we want to have.' She played a portion of a recorded rundown conversation in which she asked a ticket-taker at the movies what he had had for breakfast. From there she leapt to asking him if he was in love with his significant other, and how many virgins he had slept with. In about 60 seconds, this woman (she) came away with more information about a complete stranger than I know about many of my closest friends. It was inspiring.
The rundown might seem a bit nosy however, small talk, in most cases, is a poor excuse for 'adding humanity' to speaking with the phone company or a bank employee. Small talk, in essence, is a buffer from showing true emotion or stating your real feelings. I wonder what the balance between being polite and courteous and cutting to the chase will be?
