"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have the runs."

"Hey RoadRage, you have a minute?" That's how it starts. The person you try to avoid at all costs, comes up and feels like that's the right time to start annoying you with their incessant blathering.

Sometimes, the chit-chat is fine, when you're talking to someone you actually like, or to someone who has something pertinent and interesting to say. Unfortunately, that's rarely the case.

While, I do get easily perturbed by others, and I do write this blog, I do like most of you humans. I try to be decent to people and not show my contempt, so I'm not the kind of person who can just tell someone to shut their cakehole and walk away ... I don't like hurting people's feelings. You have to be smooth in these situations and think of an easy way to get out of the conversation, without making the guy feel bad.

That's why I came up with this gem of an excuse: "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have the runs." Even the most inconsiderate person can't stop you from making your way to the bathroom before the inevitable happens. The trick is you have to sell it -- start walking away quickly, without running, and make sure the person you were talking to sees you go into the bathroom.

That way, you get out of a mundane conversation, and instead of making the guy you were talking to feel like he sucks, he just feels bad for you.

RoadRage