An old boss and one of the best, so far, would sit down at a restaurant or order something face to face, and he’d ask one, maybe two questions to the salesperson/waiter/etc. about themselves while ordering. They were innocuous questions and even simple, where are you from and things like that, but those people would open up, even in tiny bits, and everyone seemed happier for it. He had a talent for it that was delightful to watch–I told him he should’ve worked doing interviews for radio or something, but he was silly happy where he was.
Goes with the adage about taking the potential hire out for lunch only to see how they treat the wait staff.
