Going Up?

Elevator conversation starters to use if you’re not a small-talk person

- Sophie Kohn

IT’S MONDAY MORNING and you’re crammed into your office elevator with Karl from the legal department, watching people get on and off. In this moment, the only thing more unbearable than having to wait to get to your office on the 27th floor is knowing that, at any second, Karl will turn to you and remark that it’s cold outside, triggering the same boring conversation you’ve already had 10 times this month. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Use these genius conversation starters to keep your small talk riveting.

“So! Got any big plans for after you die?”

This is an all-around solid opener. It’s direct, yet casual; warm, yet bone-chilling. The answer could easily take a turn for the practical (wills and life insurance) or the metaphysical (the soul departing the body and taking a solemn trip to a cold and distant underworld). To maximize the potential of a surprised reaction, try it out on an intern who’s barely entered their 20s.