| im a 22 yr old male and i work a couple jobs
so, being an introvert, over the past few weeks i've been trying to be as social as possible with almost every customer i see while i'm at work.
some examples i use while i work at Starbucks:
"how's you're morning/day going so far?"
"got anything planned for the rest of the day?"
"did u do anything fantastic over the weekend?"
some examples i use at the parking toll booth job:
"did you have a good visit downtown tonight?"
- "yeah? what'd you do, grab some dinner/drink, go shopping?"
the problem i've come across, first of all, is that i cant think of anything else to "open" with. it gets a little monotonous repeating those same lines customer after customer. especially to the regulars at starbucks who i see almost daily (i sometimes just dont converse with them at all since i dont wanna ask them the same question i asked almost every other day that week).
second of all, sometimes after using those openers i mentioned, it leads into a deeper conversation about what that person does for a living or something to that nature. i have trouble keeping the conversation short and sweet in those instances, which usually ends up in an awkward farewell because i have to get back to making drinks or taking the next customers' order. (i guess thats where being in control of the conversation comes into play?)
third of all, i know that something different i can open up with is saying something like "oh thats a nice ___ , what made you decide to wear that?" or something along those lines. And while i've used that a couple times with good results, i only used it on ppl who were wearing things PARTICULARLY original/unique (matching nails earrings and shirt, or a regular customer who just dyed their hair, etc.). i often find it hard to find something to compliment someone on who's wearing plain clothes (maybe i'm not being creative enough). i mean i know i can just say "thats a nice shirt", but what do i follow up with?
also, i've been reading about body language and have made some adjustments to myself that i find rather interesting. i noticed while walking down the street simply holding myself up straighter, head up(not looking at the ground), and smiling often gives strangers a warm or friendly feeling and they more often than not make eye contact and smile back.
i'm on the verge of starting the newbie drill, but i keep second guessing myself and find excuses not to go and open a set (i.e. opinion openers dont work well on 1 sets, its hard to make opinion openers sound genuine, fear of them having heard that particular canned opener, cant picture myself holding the conversation for long after the opener, etc.)
i think a big problem is that i need to be more charismatic (inner game?)
thoughts?
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