I found myself at an event last week ( that makes it sound like I just pitched up..) where a few of those arriving, including me, were not on the guest list. It was being jointly held by 2 organisations and there were guests from each. I seemed to be the only one who was not on my hosting organisation’s list but as requested I went to stand with the others until security clearance could be given. I had not met anyone else in that group before so, to break the ice,  I asked the lady standing next to me if she too had been invited by my host or the other organisation. Firstly she looked me up and down, said “no” ( that was it) and then went on to grumble about how the organisers’ problems seemed to now be ours. She was loud and also , in my view, rude, so I wandered off to speak to someone else.

On another occasion at another networking event I was chatting to 2 ladies about some work I was doing in schools when a lady I had not met before joined us. I brought her in on the conversation by briefly summarising what I had been talking about. She said that in her view schools should focus on the 3 Rs before they allocated time to projects like mine.  I had a choice - to try to win her over or to wander off for some nicer conversation…guess what I opted for.

I do not expect to like - or be liked - by everyone I meet but I do expect some manners. I cannot understand why someone would go to an event to alienate people so I can only assume that neither of these ladies realised that that was what they did.

On a final note on my bus this afternoon a passenger spent much of the journey telling the bus driver what he thought of this country and the government. It wasn’t flattering. Such an approach is often called ”nipping someone’s ear” in these parts.  The poor driver continued driving and offering the odd yes or no - but he was a captive audience and had not option of wandering off to find someone else to spend his time talking too ( besides he needed to focus on driving ).  It might be worth considering whether any conversation you strike up with a stranger is hitting a bum note from the start - then start again!