Smalltalk Revisited

Today I had, by far, the most in depth conversation I’ve ever had with someone while they were cutting my hair - and yes, that includes my mother. The classic barbershop smalltalk has forever been something that terrifies me, to the extent that I have pretty bad anxiety about the whole process, from phoning to book an appointment, turning up and having to awkwardly wait while whoever is before me is laughing and joking around, to very Britishly saying ‘looks great, thanks’ when shown the back of my head, wholly irregardless of whether or not the back of my head does in fact look great. But today, I was determined to have some kind of conversation, even if it was only minor, and guess what - I actually did!

We talked for a solid ten minutes, mostly about her daughter’s dance competitions in the UK, and I think I finally see the appeal of smalltalk as a whole. Conversation doesn’t have to be deep or meaningful, it can be slathered with thick layers of deflection, but people’s personalities will always shine through, and there will be shiny golden nuggets of inner beauty to be found if only I am willing to pan through the silt of having to describe what I do for my job and listening to a banal weekend’s plan or three.