>>213464446
>How often do you initiate conversation with random strangers that goes on for more than 10 seconds?
At the bar or gym, plenty of times. When I moved into my new place, I didn't know anyone. I chatted with some people and eventually they invited me over to drink and play Battlefront on the PS2
>How often do you see others do the same?
I work at a bar and I see people not only cold approach people all the time and chat but I see people get fucking laid all the time
>How many people do you know who legitimately struck up a relationship through happenstance at a public park or a gym, and not because they met each other through work/school/friends?
Three couples in my bar within the last year have started because the girl or guy asked to play pool and needed a partner and they got to chatting afterwards. I met a girl playing darts and she asked me if I wanted to hang out.
>Whenever I go out anywhere, I'm there to do something specific and leave, and I think almost everyone else is the same
Yeah we get guys like you. Thing is; you need to stop and smell the roses. People want to hang out and most people have no one who listens to them. Try listening to them or engaging them.
>I'll accept that I need to try harder, but I'll never accept normie-tier advice that they've never had to actually put into practice in their fucking life, that's just insulting
I have and it worked for me. It got me two jobs and four film projects. And before you warble about how I'm a normie, I spent my childhood and teenaged years in a fucking pathological silence, staring at my shoes. I learned how to look people in the eye and speak to them concisely and listen to their dumb shit until they actually started to open up to me and I made six or so friends who regularly ask me to go to shows or hang out to play games. I've introduced several to D&D or Call of Cthulhu and they love it. One of them is carving me a staff for a Ren Faire costume and wants to help me make a movie.
