It makes it easier to get things done. Can you imagine how conversation'd be in every day life if those shortcuts weren't there for dealing with inconsequential people?
It also can help people who have trouble loosening up. After enough gum flapping it can become easier to say real stuff.
I hate it... and it shows. Makes people nervous. So what do they do? More small talk. They can't handle the silence. So they work harder to fill up the silence with questions, without any genuine interest in the answers... just so they no longer have to feel rejected by my genuine display of lack in interest. :)
"Impress me? No."
Huh, I figured it'd have been like the whole "being nice to not have your food spat into" kind of idea (I know you don't work with food, just comparing the idea).
"They just don't like that I want to do my job and not have to act like a pal that they can spew their whole life story to."
It is sort of stereotyped into the salon experience.
"I think because I have to touch them it makes them feel like we need to be intimate in other ways."
Eugh, mind's in the gutter. "In other ways" was strangely distracting.
"Doctors have to touch you in worse ways, but no one feels the need to make them their best friend first."
They prefer to be a bit more detached from doctors because the touching is in worse ways. It's more invasive by comparison. Stuff like hair and face contact meanwhile seem to make people open up if they feel like they have to be cool with it.
People don't like silence they are constantly trying to fill it even if it means all they spew is useless questions or statements. Others believe it's polite and a norm to ask certain things before getting to the point. We do it to when we ask "how are you" I bet no one care how we really are lol.
Impress me? No. They just don't like that I want to do my job and not have to act like a pal that they can spew their whole life story to. I think because I have to touch them it makes them feel like we need to be intimate in other ways. I'd rather them just treat me like how they would a doctor. Doctors have to touch you in worse ways, but no one feels the need to make them their best friend first.