I can engage in small talk but usually choose not to. Prolly lots of people IRL think I& #39;m unfriendly or rude. Someone in line at the store was just telling me about their dog& #39;s illness and surgery. Finally (because I was wondering) I asked, (and not snarkily)

"Why are you telling me this?" She looked kind of butt hurt and said some shit about well I& #39;m sorry I was bothering you. I said, I didn& #39;t say that and you didn& #39;t answer me. She& #39;s like, answer you? Yes, I am curious why you were telling me that? She actually thought a moment.

Then her face appeared a little pained and said, because I& #39;m really worried and I live alone and I don& #39;t see many people and I wonder if I am spending a lot of money on her and she& #39;ll die anyway. So I said, Do you love her? Oh yes more than anything!

Then I said, then don& #39;t beat yourself up. If the worst happens and you lose her- you will probably want to know you did everything you could. And if you feel a little pinch in the budget remember at those times that you made a sacrifice for her and it was worth it.

She smiled (I think- mask) and said, Thank you, that really helps!

No punch line. Just that IMO I turned our encounter into a brief conversation between strangers instead of some small talk about veterinary. Small talk is dumb.

I hope her dog does OK.