“It happened again,” were the words with which Richard started his story that day.
He told me how he and his wife had a dinner date over the weekend with another couple from church—“All in all, a less than satisfying dinner conversation.”
Richard elaborated on how he and his wife felt they had asked all the questions, showing interest in their friends, drawing them out, and learning more about the couple’s experiences and perspectives on various topics. Yet their curiosity was never reciprocated; no questions were asked of Richard or his wife, and very little interest in them was expressed by this other couple.
“It all felt like a one-way street of interest,” Richard paused and then continued, “A disappointing but not unfamiliar experience.”
These sorts of conversations were sadly all too common, according to Richard. “This same experience is frequent enough,” Richard shared with me, “that my wife and I have developed a shorthand descriptor for it. When we get back in the car after the meal or when one of us returns from a coffee conversation, either my wife or I say—It happened again.”
