I've recently been in a rut with talking to new people - I try to make an effort to do so at least once per bus ride, but I often chicken out when there are people near the target, so I usually open later in the ride, which ends up being a few minutes to my stop.

Today, I talked to a girl (with no intention of getting any form of permanent information: number, last name, etc.), and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, what's up? I'm Ben.

Her: I'm Kayley

(I have no idea how to spell it).

Me: Hi shakes hand. Are you coming home from school?

Her: Yeah.

Me: Alright, now why do you take the YRT instead of the school bus?

(The YRT is the York Region Transit public transportation service).

(I think I mumbled something about taking a survey here).

Me: At least, I get a school bus, do you not?

Her: No, I do. I just go running after school.

Me: Oh, you run? I always mean to run, and then I... pause don't.

Her: laughs

Me: So you don't go to a gym, you just run.. around? gestures vaguely

Her: No, I'm part of the track team.

Me: Oh cool, you like that?

Her: Well yeah, I've been on it forever.

Me: I joined it one year, and then stopped.

Her: taking out phone just a sec, sorry, I have to call my mom to pick me up from the bus stop.

(Short phone conversation)

Me: Did you say your name was Kayley or Hayley?

Her: Kayley.

Me: Ah, just because I came back from auditioning - er, rehearsing for a play, and the director's name is Hayley. Would've been a very strange coincidence indeed.

Her: Oh, what play?

Me: The Actor's Nightmare..?

(She shrugs)

Her: Where do you go to school?

Me: MDHS. You?

Her: (School name, withheld for sake of her privacy)

Me: Oh wow, that's.. far.

Her: No, it's only like 20 minutes.

Me: Really? MDHS is like 20 minutes away, and I'm basically just down the road.

(At this point, I got off the bus, and said something like "Nice meeting you smile").

My point is that it was an ego boost, had no risk, and was enjoyable. My question is now as to what I could've done better, were I trying to pick her up (aside from, obviously, get her number).

My thoughts are:

  • More kino (really should've been paying attention here)
  • Less open-ended questions
  • Stronger eye contact
  • Opened sooner
  • Slight innuendo

With regards to that last point, I recently saw a post talking about the importance of having a balance of teasing/qualifying, normal conversation, and slightly sexually-charged conversation.

Anyway, what would you have improved on, and how would you recommend opening a stranger on the bus?