When in casual conversation it is common knowledge that the dialogue should be pretty close to 50/50....especially when meeting someone for the first time.
You would THINK this is common knowledge....but sadly, no.
On our first night of vacation we met a nice couple. We were sitting next to each other at the bar so we struck up a convo. At first the conversation was easy and flowed naturally... but I quickly realized that flowed one way....out of the husbands mouth.
He told us all the things: How many kids they had, how many grand kids they had, that they had wanted 4 kids but could only have 2, what they did for work, that his last work trip to Puerto Rico lasted for 3 months, that his wife doesn’t like her admin job and wants to get back to nursing, that they have a boat and collect stickers for the cooler that sits on the back of it, that she used to be a model, that they have been married for 30 years, that they were high school sweethearts.... You Get It.
We probably chatted for an hour.
Walking back to our hotel room away I realized that they had not asked us one question about ourselves ....not ONE.
Don’t be this man.
Ask the questions.
Have a dialogue.
It’s not all about you. (Shocker, I know)