Rina Thomas | The kindness of strangers

Way back during my freshman year, a homeless stranger led a couple of my buddies on an epic quest for fried chicken. After wandering around West Philly late at night, they all ended up at Crown's on 40th and Market. Bonhomie flowed forth, and much crispy fowl was consumed. I hear it was finger-licking good.

During a career at Penn, unexpected encounters with strangers are inevitable. When I overtook a man on the Walk the other day, he commented sadly that everyone in Philadelphia walks faster than him. I gave an inane response about how time is money. We both chortled heartily, and I power-walked onwards.

When I passed the Wawa on Spruce, two freshmen tensed at my approach and leaned forward. One asked me to count to three. I obliged, and they ran like the hounds of hell were after them.

You may think these random incidents have no meaning. Just a happy coincidence - a nutty encounter to brighten up the day. The chance meeting of two lonely people who were strangers in the night.

If so, you are grossly underestimating the importance of these brushes with destiny. Talking to strangers can improve job performance and build democracy.

Seriously.

That 40 grand you dropped four years in a row might not do you much good in the workplace if you haven't already learned how to talk to strangers. Or in business-speak, create performative ties.

Performative ties facilitate knowledge transfers within a firm. A recent college grad on a first assignment may not know anything about the whaling industry. Fortunately, the new worker can pick up a phone and consult someone else in the firm. According to Sheen Levine, author of The Strength of Performative Ties, this can look an awful lot like friendship.

"Although these people are likely to be complete strangers, when they share knowledge, it's done in an intimate transfer as though the parties involved were actually close friends," Levine said in an interview with Knowledge@Wharton.

This knowledge-sharing gives the firm a greater competitive advantage. And likely helps land you that nice Christmas bonus.

If you can't envision yourself in the corporate world, this may all seem irrelevant. But consider this: Talking to strangers strengthens democracy. This is nation-building that doesn't require an invasion.

Danielle Allen, author of Talking to Strangers, believes that the problems with American democracy are not institutional in nature. Rather, they stem from the distrust between groups of citizens, especially in race relations. The best way to overcome that distrust is through simple conversation. In an NPR interview, Allen confessed to chatting up strangers on the bus and in the grocery store to do her part as an American.

Maybe participative democracy and active citizenship don't excite you. Maybe you've never understood why Blanche Dubois always depended on the kindness of strangers.

But hopefully you appreciate the great opportunity here on campus to talk to strangers. The Admissions Department slaves away each year to acquire as diverse an incoming class as possible. They are literally spreading an array of voices and opinions at our feet. Granted, Penn students generally come from well-educated, solidly middle-class families. But there still exists a diversity of backgrounds with which we may not otherwise come in contact.

As incredible as it may seem, I had never met someone from Jersey before coming to Penn.

So how do you go about this job-enhancing, democratic activity? You could always attend the campus events hosted by various student groups.

Or you can pounce on random people around campus. Here are some handy techniques to ingratiate yourself without being creepy, courtesy of Harpold.com:

Be a co-conspirator. When your fake ID gets you kicked out of Smokes, smile sympathetically at the kid who gets ejected right after you.

Cut to the chase. Start off by sharing your profound observation about the weather. If you begin with the traditional "Hello, my name is .," people will think you're either selling candy or religion.

A compliment never hurts. I asked a kid on the elevator from whence came his oh-so odiferous fried chicken, and I learned that Savory has some damn good poultry.

Have some self-control and know when to restrain yourself. A conversation is supposed to involve listening. Also, if your number of Facebook friends starts to reach into the thousands, you have a problem.

So forget what your mom told you about not talking to strangers. Don't squander the resources we have at Penn.

Rina Thomas is a Wharton and College senior from New Orleans. Her e-mail address is thomas@dailypennsylvanian.com. The Gospel According to Thomas appears on Thursdays.

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