One of the things Id like to start doing here in Potluck is this "Hit or Miss" series, which focuses on both sides of a subject manner. In the same vein of which i did the Best and Worst First Date in seperate threads, Id like to tackle other subject manner in a similar fashion, and if anything good or bad came from it. It doesn't have to be a major life-changing event in any way, as it can simply be something you and your friends laugh about to this day. At its best, if you identify yourself as being bad at something, it gives you a time to look back to where you were able to do something successfully.
Icebreakers can be a group activity through a workplace that either helps bring new people into that environment, or less formally, the way you introduce yourself to others. Icebreakers can be as simple as finding something you have in common with someone else that gets you off on the right foot, or the way you tend to integrate yourself with people you've never met before.
Some people are very good when it comes to breaking the ice. They have a way of introducing themselves, or how they try and come across to others when first meeting them that makes them stick out. Personally, Ive always found myself to be terrible when it comes to breaking the ice witrh people upon first meeting them. Generally, I wind up sticking my foot in my mouth at least once, sometimes doing damage along the way that takes some kind to come back from. The best example of this came when I first graduated college.
I had taken a waitering job that was flexible in terms of hours due to being in graduate school. When I break the ice with someone, I try to observe something about them first and bring it up later. But have you ever experienced a time when your observations of others turned out to be flat-out wrong? This was the case with me.
When i started at the restaurant, I got off on the right foot with mot of the people there. There was one girl, however, that I got off to a terrible start with. I made sure, even if casually, to introduce myself to everyone, using the observations I made about them. It just so turns out that my observations around her were completely wrong. She appeared to be baout 6-7 months pregnant and I thought her stomach had dropped. Not seeing a ring on her finger, I began to ask her about the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. Was she with the father? Did she know the sex of the baby yet? How far along was she? She'ld answer, glaring at me as she did. I couldn't understand why, and just kept asking further question after another along the same vein.
Well, as it turned out, she was pretty angry following the first question I had asked her. Why? She had thr body of someone who wasn't fat, she simply had a belly that stuck out, as in she wasn't pregnant whatsoever.
But the other girls in the restaurant convinced her to play along, as they enjoyed seeing me embarrass myself, and her, day after day. After a few weeks, a girl I had become close with and eventually dated for 2 years came to me giggling that the "pregnant" girl wasn't actually pregnant, and was pretty offended at that. It took a few months before she was even willing to talk to me following that, and I didnt live it down the entire time I worked there. Suffice to say, it was the worst icebreaker of my life, and I decided after that to break the ice based on more inoccuous observations from there on out.
Are you, on the whole, generally successful or poor when it comes to breaking the ice when first meeting other people?
What's been your worst experience when it comes to breaking the ice with other people?
Icebreakers can be a group activity through a workplace that either helps bring new people into that environment, or less formally, the way you introduce yourself to others. Icebreakers can be as simple as finding something you have in common with someone else that gets you off on the right foot, or the way you tend to integrate yourself with people you've never met before.
Some people are very good when it comes to breaking the ice. They have a way of introducing themselves, or how they try and come across to others when first meeting them that makes them stick out. Personally, Ive always found myself to be terrible when it comes to breaking the ice witrh people upon first meeting them. Generally, I wind up sticking my foot in my mouth at least once, sometimes doing damage along the way that takes some kind to come back from. The best example of this came when I first graduated college.
I had taken a waitering job that was flexible in terms of hours due to being in graduate school. When I break the ice with someone, I try to observe something about them first and bring it up later. But have you ever experienced a time when your observations of others turned out to be flat-out wrong? This was the case with me.
When i started at the restaurant, I got off on the right foot with mot of the people there. There was one girl, however, that I got off to a terrible start with. I made sure, even if casually, to introduce myself to everyone, using the observations I made about them. It just so turns out that my observations around her were completely wrong. She appeared to be baout 6-7 months pregnant and I thought her stomach had dropped. Not seeing a ring on her finger, I began to ask her about the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. Was she with the father? Did she know the sex of the baby yet? How far along was she? She'ld answer, glaring at me as she did. I couldn't understand why, and just kept asking further question after another along the same vein.
Well, as it turned out, she was pretty angry following the first question I had asked her. Why? She had thr body of someone who wasn't fat, she simply had a belly that stuck out, as in she wasn't pregnant whatsoever.
But the other girls in the restaurant convinced her to play along, as they enjoyed seeing me embarrass myself, and her, day after day. After a few weeks, a girl I had become close with and eventually dated for 2 years came to me giggling that the "pregnant" girl wasn't actually pregnant, and was pretty offended at that. It took a few months before she was even willing to talk to me following that, and I didnt live it down the entire time I worked there. Suffice to say, it was the worst icebreaker of my life, and I decided after that to break the ice based on more inoccuous observations from there on out.Are you, on the whole, generally successful or poor when it comes to breaking the ice when first meeting other people?
What's been your worst experience when it comes to breaking the ice with other people?
