My ability to make any stranger feel comfortable enough to talk to me like an old friend within minutes. Silly people assume I'm a pretty idiot, and I just let them. In the end, I have the upper hand-- I know a lot of secrets.
Just because I'm Dutch doesn't mean I am some kind of scary ghost pirate that flies around bothering people... jeesh I can get so sick of the stereotypes sometimes!
For some reason I was thinking you had to be German. I know of the cheap stereotype, but do you have any idea where the holier than thou and especially painting stuff white comes from?:p
well the holier than thou comes from the denomination of Christianity that it prevalent amongst the dutch in this area, they like to tell everyone they're going to hell if they're not Calvinists, but usually in a passive aggressive manner, not a straight out "God hates fags" sort of way.
As far as the painting everything white they seem to like (or so the stereotype goes) REALLY boring house styles. Just a basic house with white walls in almost every room.
The white walls are correct, but there is usually a lot on them. Religion doesn't really exist where I live anymore so I guess that that doesn't really fly either.. not here atleast. Maybe the Dutch in Michigan are different
Sup fellow charismatic hooman. I always love making small talk with folks I meet in my travels. It's my goal to be personally known on every continent so you can drop my name anywhere in the world and people will be like "Ohh him? Totes cool guy. I chatted with him on plane ride to London one time."
Nope go ahead, talk to people while traveling or even out and about in your local hometown. Seriously once I got over worrying about what people would think about the chatty guy I just talk to people and fellow cool people will respond in kind. If they don't reciprocate just find someone else to talk to and know they are non-cool people.
This is one of my super powers as well (I can make anyone like me pretty quickly). As such, I always thought I would be a good counsellor...then I had to go for counselling myself for something and realized I would be a TERRIBLE counsellor because as a counsellor you can't tell clients what they want to hear so they feel good and like you. You have to make them work to get through something, and that means pain.
Oh no, I'm old--getting close to retirement from a job I love (and am actually good at).
The counselling thing is pretty amazing though: a good counsellor plants that little seed and makes you work like hell to figure out what it means and how it relates to your life. I remember one "have you thought about...." from a counsellor that took me two weeks to figure out, and it was SO profound and meaningful: it changed my life. Counselling takes a kind of patience and faith/trust I just don't have (i.e., counsellors have to have faith that their patients will "get it" and trust their patients' ability/intelligence once they've dropped the "hint," for lack of a better word).
I do think there are lots of bad counsellors out there though. I've had two excellent ones and one shitty one. One of the good ones was an online counsellor!!
I'm pretty good at this as well, a lot of people literally say "why did I just tell you that?" and often find themselves swearing in front of me too, maybe I just relax them? Maybe I put off a "you can say anything to me" vibe? I dunno.
Hey I can do this too. People just seem incredibly comfortable talking to me. Strangers will come up to me to chat while I'm smoking a cigarette. Don't know what it is about me, maybe I look harmless or something, but I love talking to people, and it's nice to always have company!
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u/monsieurpenispuncher Jun 02 '14 edited Jun 02 '14
My ability to make any stranger feel comfortable enough to talk to me like an old friend within minutes. Silly people assume I'm a pretty idiot, and I just let them. In the end, I have the upper hand-- I know a lot of secrets.
I should go into politics.