KEITH T. DENNETT | New South | CONTACT
Justin Powell has never been that great at small talk.
Whether it’s while taking the lift with a colleague, meeting up with a client, or simply standing around a Webber at a backyard BBQ, Justin often struggles to pull off good chat with strangers.
In the midst of sharing a round of glass-sandwiches in downtown Betoota, Justin has once again managed to make a banal social interaction even more awkward after butchering some chat with a local bartender.
“Bloody nice day outside,” Justin quipped, whilst ordering three schooners of low-carb lager and a glass of house white.
“Looks like it,” responded local bartender Nathan blankly, who had spent his entire day cramped up inside an empty, dark cave with beer soaked carpet.
Having received a cool reception from the bartender, witnesses say Cam failed to read the room and realise that sunshine based chat was going down like a warm pint of concrete.
“Gotta make the most of an early knock off aye,” added Justin, digging himself a little deeper.
As Nathan began running up some numbers on the till and putting his hand out for a card, Justin decided he’d really do a number on himself and add some inflation based chat to the conversation.
“Haha they don’t miss ya here hey,” Justin noted as he spotted the $36.50 outstanding on the Paywave machine, “sure you can’t do these ones under Happy Hour prices, haha?”
Walking back to his table of colleagues, Justin reportedly took a moment to recover from the deathly silence that had followed his failed chat with the pub staff.
“Here’s we go guys, watch out for the bartender, he’s a bit of a prick,” offered Cam as he spilt half the drinks on the table.
“Might be better to go off the QR code on the next round, he’s a bit slow up there!”
