I saw a Ted talk video about the concept of talking to strangers. I found a couple of things pretty interesting and relatable to many interactions I’ve had with strangers. In many cases, people avoid each other but tend to catch others’ attention from a distance. I read before people tend to be more friendly to each other and didn’t mind interacting. In today’s world people avoid with caution since nobody is familiar with each other. In NYC the main thing people did was mind their business and keep moving. This mindset ties in a lot with the famous stereotype city people are rude, mean, etc. I’m not gonna deny that’s true because of the uncertainties people have with each other.
But something spoke to me when the speaker said to “use our senses not our feelings”. What she meant by that is if we let our guard down enough to interact with someone we can be surprised by what happens. You connect with this stranger, enough a goos conversation, find out how friendly they really are.
When I moved to Florida from NYC I kept to myself for months. However, as I found myself without a car and license when I first moved, which lead me to use uber to move around. Super expensive by the way I ended up paying between 350-600 in rides per month for like a year, thank god I managed to put in my taxes. During my uber adventures, I noticed a lot of my uber drivers are a couple of chatterboxes. I was surprised and a little annoyed at first, but then as time flew by I enjoyed talking to them. Some were repeating drivers so I see them again every once in a while and they recognized me. In a way, we got past the stranger stage and became aware of each other. They even taught me a few things about the area, certain topics, business ideas, and what their dreams are.
One of my drivers became a good friend and one of my first web design clients. His name is Damian and he is a soccer recruiter for a soccer agency called talent soccer. He drives uber because he wants to meet people, this led to us meeting and striking a deal. The website I made for him is a pretty nice portfolio piece. I would say my old perception of strangers has changed this past year and I’m grateful for it.
