Cloudy with a chance of awkward

I was recently stuck trusted with the responsibility of training new co-workers. The actual training part isn't too demanding. We walk dogs, there aren't many nuances to discuss. As I soon found out, perhaps I wished there were was more to talk about.  

Training a new dog walker is not like training the new associate of interdepartmental meddling. There is no office to speak of, no people to deflect questions to, no escape. It's just you and this stranger walking around looking for something to talk about for six to eight hours. As it turns out, one of my trainees was quite pleasant and the other was perfectly agreeable, so I wasn't standing there in silence, searching for new ways to describe how this particular dog likes to shit. But there's still only so much you can say to a person you just met. It would have been ill-advised to bring up topics such as my penchant for mooning my girlfriend or complaints about my mother. Riveting subjects like those are reserved for close friends and anonymous readers.

I do my best not to be awkward, but I'm not Mr. Gregarious either. It's hard to talk to one person all day. When you have so many hours to fill, small talk starts looking pretty damn interesting. The whole training experience reminded how valuable small talk can be. We can't all have the gift of gab. For the rest of us, conversations with strangers can be challenging, and silences can be terrifying. So forgive us plebes for discussing the weather. Personally, I find it interesting.