Why would you go to parties and not expect to talk to people?

AggieArchitect04 said:

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Why would you go to parties and not expect to talk to people?

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I was under the impression a dog would be involved.

As an introvert, I love the people that can talk for 2 hours while I just smile and speak occasionally. Not sure what the OP's problem is.

AggieArchitect04 said:

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Why would you go to parties and not expect to talk to people?

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Because my wife wants to go to this party every year and after she said she had a lot of fun. This is how to stay married 28 years.

toucan82 said:

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Drop a "what's the deal with abortions?", then excuse yourself to the restroom

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Better yet, say you're going to drop an abortion and then excuse yourself to the restroom.

C@LAg said:

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Ag with kids said:

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THIS is the whole reason for the problem...

Wives.

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ban wives.

everywhere.

(except the kitchen and the bedroom),

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Don't forget the laundry room.

That **** won't wash and fold itself.

Human Being said:

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AggieArchitect04 said:

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Why would you go to parties and not expect to talk to people?

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Because my wife wants to go to this party every year and after she said she had a lot of fun. This is how to stay married 28 years.

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Sounds like the issue is with you and your wife; not other people talking at a party. Those people are just doing what people do at parties.

Congrats on 28 years though. Sounds amazing!

Human >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Human Being

Ginormus Ag said:

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We must be identical twins separated at birth.

There is no need to talk if you have nothing to say.

The worst is birthday parties for your kids where you are forced to talk to other kids parents who the only thing you have in common is that your kids are in the same grade. If you have a kids birthday party at your house I refuse to go. I know you are trying to make us "friends". I don't care to listen to you talk about stuff I don't care about. It is worse than being in a meeting that is completely over and time to leave except someone keeps asking dumb questions because they think it makes them look smart to everyone else.

However, my wife loves these parties and to talk to people.

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Seems odd to not want to talk about your kid or want to know who their friends are. Most parents I know are pretty in to the topic.

Anchorhold said:

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AggieArchitect04 said:

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Why would you go to parties and not expect to talk to people?

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I was under the impression a dog would be involved.

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Or the possibility that you might be able to shoot hoops with David Wallace.

LupinusTexensis said:

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Ginormus Ag said:

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We must be identical twins separated at birth.

There is no need to talk if you have nothing to say.

The worst is birthday parties for your kids where you are forced to talk to other kids parents who the only thing you have in common is that your kids are in the same grade. If you have a kids birthday party at your house I refuse to go. I know you are trying to make us "friends". I don't care to listen to you talk about stuff I don't care about. It is worse than being in a meeting that is completely over and time to leave except someone keeps asking dumb questions because they think it makes them look smart to everyone else.

However, my wife loves these parties and to talk to people.

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Seems odd to not want to talk about your kid or want to know who their friends are. Most parents I know are pretty in to the topic.

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Look at his username and his posts about food (which I'm sure is just part of the schtick - guaranteed the guy is 5'6" and weighs 120lbs).

Nobody is inviting him to anything with cake.

You have 50k posts

I tell boring stories to people I don't want to talk to.

Flashdiaz said:

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I tell boring stories to people I don't want to talk to.

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Hell yeah. Onion belt that s***.

When I'm not in the mood for socializing, but I know it will be forced upon me, I take a gummy timed to hit when I think the social drinkers will be just buzzed enough not to notice my excessive lack of talking. Eye drops for the red eyes, glass of water or beer for the cotton mouth, and nod and say "yeah" every 2 to 3 minutes. Smile. This turns the most monotonous of situations into a GREAT live comedy or drama.

Ginormus Ag said:

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However, my wife loves these parties and to talk to people.

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Sounds like you need a wife who loves ****ing instead of talking

I am an introvert. You can practice conversation all the same and still become good at the human ritual of it. It helped I was from a huge and closely connected family so talking a lot to a lot of different people was normal for me.

Yes, inane and shallow conversation can be tedious and annoying but it's not completely useless. Maybe you pick up bits of information that might be useful in your next inane conversation, or you can study the people themselves by how they react in the course of the conversation, and learn more about the people themselves, which might be socially useful.

You can also make it interesting by dropping queues that provoke or exacerbate a dispute between others in the conversation and then subtly egg it on.

Having done weekly business travel for 13 years I feel this so much. A party setting is one thing bc, hey party and convos, but on a plane I just want to get in my seat and sleep.

I've had people talk to me while I was reading a book, trying to sleep, and even tap my arm to talk when I had earbuds in.

I actually think women have better conversations. They're more honest and don't really hide their feelings. It's a conversation, you really can't expect much if you're not putting in the work.

I was at a kid's birthday party where one of the other dads was a former professional baseball player (got as high as AAA). He hit his first base coach with a line drive and killed the poor guy.

Human Being said:

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How about we as a society agree on a social contract that once everyone is done trying to make interesting conversation how's about we all go home instead of coming up with more conversation just for the sake of making conversation.

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Normally people leave once all the free drinks are gone.

So... if you want to leave earlier, make sure they're out of drinks or, get somebody to do something really dumb like throw up or jump off the roof into the swimming pool (happened at a work function in Sydney).

bjorn said:

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You have 50k posts

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And this is at least his 3rd account

Good points. I used to train Sales Engineers (who inherently suck at talking to people) and one of the qualities for being successful is that you have to be able to talk to people.

I told my trainees that there are 3 topics which everybody can participate in without getting into Religion, Politics or Sex.

• Traffic
• Weather
• Sports

Of course these days, we have Politics in Sports and Weather.
Traffic is still fairly safe unless it deviates into dumb stuff like High Speed Rail, or forced consumption of EVs (in California).

Anyway, for the OP, I used to be a major introvert but, I learned that these people don't pay my rent or my car payment and frankly, some of the folks might have great stories. Even if they're the guy who puts the bolts into the trailer tow package on the F250/F350.

As mentioned, plant a topic and let them go.

Most people love to talk about their hometown and try to sell you on why it's so great. Especially if it's a real craphole like Waco.

And of course you always have the travel one uppers who are great to hang back and listen to. Recently had somebody bragging to me about taking a train from France to Belgium. I let him talk for a while before I let him know that I had also done that ... in 1978.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Good points. I used to train Sales Engineers (who inherently suck at talking to people) and one of the qualities for being successful is that you have to be able to talk to people.

I told my trainees that there are 3 topics which everybody can participate in without getting into Religion, Politics or Sex.

• Traffic
• Weather
• Sports

Of course these days, we have Politics in Sports and Weather.
Traffic is still fairly safe unless it deviates into dumb stuff like High Speed Rail, or forced consumption of EVs (in California).

Anyway, for the OP, I used to be a major introvert but, I learned that these people don't pay my rent or my car payment and frankly, some of the folks might have great stories. Even if they're the guy who puts the bolts into the trailer tow package on the F250/F350.

As mentioned, plant a topic and let them go.

Most people love to talk about their hometown and try to sell you on why it's so great. Especially if it's a real craphole like Waco.

And of course you always have the travel one uppers who are great to hang back and listen to. Recently had somebody bragging to me about taking a train from France to Belgium. I let him talk for a while before I let him know that I had also done that ... in 1978.

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Meh...

I took a train from West Germany to West Berlin in 1971-72.

I think the waffles are better in Belgium though.

Kids parties blow. Women love them because they can all find a reason to commiserate about something or another. Every once in awhile I'll be another dad I have something in common but for the most part they're usually squares. That's not to say I'm the most interesting man in the world but I've done and seen a lot of cool **** and keep some interesting hobbies. I also hate talking football with the uninitiated as I am what we used to call a recruiting weirdo and hang out here.

The other day on new years, my aunt was like "hey, how's A&M doing in recruiting these days? I know Jimbo always recruits good."

I told her that the implications of that question are so broad, I honestly cannot answer it, and even if I tried, she wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about given that she didn't even know we had fired Jimbo.

Just get up. Really, its that simple.

They will respect you more if you did.

Ag with kids said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Good points. I used to train Sales Engineers (who inherently suck at talking to people) and one of the qualities for being successful is that you have to be able to talk to people.

I told my trainees that there are 3 topics which everybody can participate in without getting into Religion, Politics or Sex.

• Traffic
• Weather
• Sports

Of course these days, we have Politics in Sports and Weather.
Traffic is still fairly safe unless it deviates into dumb stuff like High Speed Rail, or forced consumption of EVs (in California).

Anyway, for the OP, I used to be a major introvert but, I learned that these people don't pay my rent or my car payment and frankly, some of the folks might have great stories. Even if they're the guy who puts the bolts into the trailer tow package on the F250/F350.

As mentioned, plant a topic and let them go.

Most people love to talk about their hometown and try to sell you on why it's so great. Especially if it's a real craphole like Waco.

And of course you always have the travel one uppers who are great to hang back and listen to. Recently had somebody bragging to me about taking a train from France to Belgium. I let him talk for a while before I let him know that I had also done that ... in 1978.

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Meh...

I took a train from West Germany to West Berlin in 1971-72.

I think the waffles are better in Belgium though.

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See... Exactly my point!

Biggest question I had when I was in Bastogne in 2017 was - why do they called it Belgian Chocolate if you're already in Belgium? Shouldn't it just be Chocolate?

Stonegateag85 said:

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Kids parties blow. Women love them because they can all find a reason to commiserate about something or another. Every once in awhile I'll be another dad I have something in common but for the most part they're usually squares. That's not to say I'm the most interesting man in the world but I've done and seen a lot of cool **** and keep some interesting hobbies. I also hate talking football with the uninitiated as I am what we used to call a recruiting weirdo and hang out here.

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You want total awkwardness, parent parties at a private girls school.

Commonality, we have children at the same expensive school.

There was one lady who was nice enough to invite us to her parent parties. After her husband got busted for (literally) Hookers and Blow, I wish I would have spent more time talking to him.

I dislike most people too, but I do a good job of hiding it, and I try not to be an ******* about it.

That's good advice by the way...

If you sit awkwardly in bitter silence, people won't feel obliged to include you in their conversation.

Next time, try to be friendly and genuinely engage in conversation with people. Introvert or not, this is good for your mental health.

TLDR - you sound like a ***** - grow a pear.

Haha I would have had so many questions

Human Being said:

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I've attended two Christmas parties in two days where I sat around a table with people conversing about the stoopidst **** YET they can talk about the stoopidist **** for litteraly 2+ hours and never get tired of it. Meanwhile I sit with a nice smile on my face wanting to scream into a pillow because I'm so freaking bored. Finally I was asked a direct question by my mom. She asked me to tell the story about our dog. I literally said "Um yeah, we had dog" and I stopped talking. The awkardess was more than the extroverts could handle so they filled the air time with more stoopid stories about their dogs. It stamina really is unbelievable.

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I bet they all have great conversations before and after the party about how much they hate that you are going to be there and that they wish your wife would come but not you.

So even if you offer nothing whatsoever in social skills, be proud that you are the topic of many great talks behind your back

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Ginormus Ag said:

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However, my wife loves these parties and to talk to people.

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Sounds like you need a wife who loves ****ing instead of talking

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She probably does... and she is looking for someone new to get under