Experiment #45

Abstract:

The janitor at my work always discusses hockey (specifically, the Vancouver Canucks) whenever he comes into our office to empty the garbage at the end of the day. I never participate in these conversations. I ignore them and continue to do my work. My other two co-workers engage him enthusiastically about hockey*

Purpose

I wanted to see if he would talk to me about hockey, without my co-workers being present. I was making coffee when I heard him coming. When he walked into the room I said, "Hello!" in a friendly and inviting manner.

Results

He said, "Hello. Are you the only one here today?" Then we started talking about how expensive dental work is. He said that his wife was recently asked, while holidaying in Mexico, if she was there for "dental work". Apparently, many Americans cross the border for cheaper dental care.

He did not mention hockey.

Conclusion

He either realizes that I don't talk about hockey or there was no hockey games/news worth talking about today.

* Post script: Although one co-worker admitted that she'll "have to start watching hockey again" so that she can talk about it more intelligently. In other words, she fakes it.

Have you ever tried this social experiment?

One day you realize that you're the only one who calls, invites, writes or initiates contact with someone. You've been a friends for years - but you've done all the work. All the organizing and inviting and planning.

You've just realized, "Hey that person never calls me."

You want to try an experiment. You want to see how long it will be before they contact you. So you stop all inviting, emailing, talking and communicating.

A couple days pass. You haven't' heard anything. No big deal. Only a couple days.

A couple weeks pass. Hey what's up??! What's wrong? Maybe you should contact them after all - something could have happened. Maybe they're very sick, dying, in the hospital. No, stay strong.

A couple months pass. You're angry now. Does your companionship mean nothing? NO WAY are you going to contact them again.

More time passes. You never hear from or see the person again.

I'm trying a new driving experiment: smiling at people.

I noticed on the commute that at red lights I often look over at the car beside me. Somehow, at the same time, they look at me. (I think they see my head move out of the corner of their eye.)

Normally, I'm embarrassed for being "caught" looking at them, so I quickly look away. My face is in the perpetual driving scowl, which is so common on the roads.

No one ever smiles. Likewise, I never smile. This is going to change starting today! I'm going to document one full week of trying to smile at people who I see. Also, I'm going to give them a quick nod of my head, a quick "hello".

Here are the results:

Day 1: Tried catching the eyes of 3 people on the way to work. Not one of them looked back at me. One guy tail gated me, however, and I could see him motioning with his hand saying "cmon, move forward". That was silly because there was nowhere to go. I got angry and kept flashing my brakes at him. Bastard!

Day 2: Still no success. I looked over at one dude and he seemed to be staring over my head. Beady eyes, huge pick up truck, unshaven. I was immediately scared so I looked away.

Day 3: Noticed a lot of people listening to ipods in their cars. One guy passenger was listening to an ipod while his wife drove and had no ipod. A lot of fun in that household. Tried the smile at a gas station to someone who pulled up behind me, but I looked away before they could smile or frown back so I don't know the result. Maybe they didn't even see me.

Day 4: Hmmm, too tired today to make a strong effort. This is actually quite hard. Hard to remember to look at people and when I do, hard to remember to smile. I pulled up to one woman and kept staring over at her, hoping to catch her eye - as we were in a jam for awhile. I must have looked super freaky. The weird guy staring at her from the car in the next lane. She never even glanced in my direction.

Day 5: I looked over at some dude and couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not. He had huge sun glasses on. So I didn't smile. Didn't want to look like an idiot, smiling at nobody. That's it for the week. Overall, the experiment was a huge fail.