I just say âI need to go potty now.â Works like a charm!
âGonna be sick! Gonna be sick! urrrmph!â
Oh wait, thatâs how I cut through a crowd in a hurry.
I suppose it would work in this case as well.
Itâs not
âIâll get me coat.?â
crap. Guess Iâm not a party person.
âIâll be in my bunkâ?
My word, Commander, do you mean to say you ended the conversation with a sharp tern?
Quite.
Iâve had a perfectly wonderful conversation, but this wasnât it.
This idea is so obvious, that I doubt it would be useful to anyone. I mean, if you donât have the strength of character to be the one to end the conversation, youâre unlikely to have the warmth and sincerity in your eye contact to make this work.
This is interesting. Iâve had to teach people how to move to other people in a trade show booth. I call it âthe handshake of deathâ but I think Iâll change the name to,
The nice person goodbye handshake. Or the Colin Shake Pivot.
Colinâs approach, note that the technique needs to be deployed with appropriate warmth and congeniality.
This is really important. Some people are so much better at this than others. Keeping this in mind helps with what ever you say. You never know who you might really be talking to. Todayâs underling awkward bore could be your boss tomorrow or a future huge client.
That is something I learned from the movie Pretty Woman.
I prefer âHow to avoid a conversationâ. Or âHow to avoid a partyâ.
I find not talking and showing no interest generally works.
Yeah, but⌠if youâre at a party, making conversation is a way to find out if, in fact, there are some interesting people present, or at the very least a more potentially fun way to spend a couple of hours other than growling at people interrupting your daydreaming or obsessive-compulsive counting.
At some point for reasons I cannot quite recall I resorted to âI think my pants may be disintegratingâ. I only hope that all other parties involved have forgotten.
[quote=âfrauenfelder, post:1, topic:62374â]âMy approach is to look them in the eye with a big smile and say, âItâs been so nice talking with you.â And then you just do a hard pivot and you walk away.â[/quote]The risk in this approach is that five minutes later you might end up stuck with that person again in an elevator or on the sidewalk or something. And then you will be obliged to flee in a panic or resort to seppuku or something.
Is there a similar technique to use on the phone, too?
âI have to go, my dinner is on fire.â
This comes to mind:
Gotta Go. Imitates call-waiting. Generates the âClicksâ and brief
interuption of call-waiting at the press of a button. Politely end
long-winded calls. Save money and limit expense phone bills. Get rid of
pesky telemarketers. Have fun and fool your friends.
Of course, this only works at an appropriate lull in the conversation.
I just say âI no longer what to have this conversationâ. and they ask me âwhat to have?â and I say âa drink, byeâ
Fake that youâre receiving an important mobile phone call like everyone else does. Works every time.
