I don’t
have many passions in life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about life on
the whole, but it is hard to decide about what I am most passionate at 11:51 on
a Thursday night. After scrapping a few ideas that were expensive, or illegal, or
dangerous, or some combination of the three, I narrowed down my interests to
three things: making friends, people watching, and cigarettes. So where the
hell do I go with this? Ladies and gentlemen, I present: The Lonely Hearts
Club.
Frequently,
while outside enjoying a bogue, I see people walk by alone. Not unusual, right?
Well in my usual people-watching, I notice the same people walking around
alone. I don’t know why, really; are they shy? Do they dislike people? Are they
deaf? It gets me thinking. I think about how difficult it is to meet people. I
think about how many people are on the campus, and how few people the average
person actually meets. I think about all the people that are worth meeting, but
aren’t outgoing enough to meet other people. These are, what we call in the
working world, problems.
To get to the bottom of these
problems, I’ve decided to begin an experiment. Here’s the premise: Any time I
am lounging about, be it eating, smoking, studying, or anything else, I’m going
to keep my eye out for people that are alone. Upon seeing a lone person, I’ll
approach them and give them an index card with my name and number. I’ll tell
them that I’m doing this for a class, of course, and give them the opportunity
to call me and meet up for lunch or coffee or what have you. Every week, I’ll
update this blog with the number of cards I’ve given out, the number of people
that have accepted these cards, and the number of people that actually call me.
I think this is a great opportunity to not only meet people, but also an
interesting sociology experiment. How many people do you think will call back?
How many will be genuinely interesting people? How many slaps to the face will
I get? The statistics overall should be an interesting commentary on the social
habits of people. If nothing else, I might get to know a few cool people, a concept
to which I certainly do not object. So the two questions I pose in this first
post are as follows: For every hundred people, how many will actually call back?
More importantly, if someone gave you a card, would you call?
I think this is a really cool idea. I expect you'll get the most responses from people who are shy, because they're looking for people to talk to, but just don't have the guts to go up to someone and jump right into a conversation. I also expect that this will be awkward, but that you're bound to meet some interesting people. At least you'll meet people you'd never have met otherwise. I think this is also an interesting experiment in how people perceive others at first glance, as well. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThats a brave thing to do; I wont be able to do it alone, I am terribly shy sometimes. Confidence is key, and no, I dont think anyone will slap you for being friendly (unless they are drunk or high on something. You might get a call back from at least 40 out of a 100 people, or maybe a facebook friend request. The chances are higher when it comes to facebook. If someone gave me their card I'll look them up on facebook and send them a message; its easier for me
ReplyDeleteWow, what a neat idea. I'd love to see how this pans out because I'm really interested in how people interact with each other. I think the only setback for something like this is the fact that today's society is a lot less more tense (for a lack of a better word) than it used to be, so people might think your offer isn't legitimate. Either way, it takes some guts to be able to do something like this. Kudos and best wishes!
ReplyDeleteNote: that was supposed to read "a lot less 'trusting' and more tense"* Commenting from a smartphone is above me apparently.
DeleteI would never have the guts to do something like this. I'd be so scared. Its great that you can just go up to people that easily and just hand them your information. I am a very outgoing person but I dont think I am that outgoing and I cant wait to see how it goes. I think its going to be great and your going to meet a lot of interesting people that you never thought you would meet.
ReplyDelete