>> Over the past few weeks, I have been engaging in conversations with random people: at the train station, in the supermarket, on the street, and in the city.

>> Over the past few weeks, I have been engaging in conversations with random people: at the train station, in the supermarket, on the street, and in the city. Well, for a while I jumped into the "being different and talk to strangers rather than ignore them" boat too. But human society has it's reasons why it behaves this way as a standard. Unless you wanna run for the "town's lunatic" contest, better respect people's boundaries: https://cdn.cluj.com/cluj/lulu-cluj-750x380.jpg https://cdn.cluj.com/cluj/lulu-cluj-750x380.jpg There are a few exceptions to the rule, even that in need of careful threading of the waters. - One is drinking in bars and clubs. It's there where I do my part of my "approaching strangers" routine. It's fun but I never "carried over", staying in touch with the respective strangers. - Not the same can be said about the other socially acceptable way of "how to win friends and influence people": coffee shops. More precisely if you want to do this: coffee SHOP. You need to stick around for long enough to become a regular, to both waiter personnel and the clients. Of which you eventually notice the regulars. And it's not only socially acceptable to engage in conversations with them, you actually can start loose friendships. Absolutely necessary in general to compensate for the general attrition rate in friends circle. Friendship, like any business, needs new hires :)