I had a lot of printing to do the other day, and so found myself in the printing/photocopying room for several minutes.  Not too long … I’d hate you to think I was chopping down a tree or reverting to good old fashioned paper in favour of my beloved technology.

But … in there I was, for longer than usual … and a funny thing happened.

I had conversations with half a dozen people who came in to use another printer.  People I hadn’t seen for a while; a couple of whom I don’t usually have too much to do with – they’re wonderful people, it’s just circumstantial that our paths don’t cross much.

And in only a few minutes I connected to my colleagues through the simple of act of saying hello and making friendly conversation.  Their response told me that it was welcomed – hey, a couple even initiated our brief chats – and it made me realise that it didn’t take much to raise energy levels, to bring a smile to people’s faces, to communicate in an oh so simple way.

Yes, I know, as a clear preference extravert, I’m always going to favour speaking to someone, engaging with them, loving the energy they give off … but let me tell you, that even for a clear preference extravert who engages in far more detailed conversations than a simple print room experience can provide, just passing the time of day with someone, saying “hi” and smiling has some meaning.

Water cooler, print room, car park, lunch table, coffee shop, team meeting … I’m now ruling out no geography as unacceptable for the kind of 30 second chat that might actually make a difference to the day.

Try it … why don’t you?