I've also had a few meals, mostly dinners, where after a couple of attempts, it was obvious the patrons across the table wanted nothing to do with small talk. Fine. Enjoy the scenery, and finish your meal.
I can honestly say thee worst dinner I had, in terms of company, not the food, was that of another railfan. A "Foamer to top all Foamers". This guy realized that I liked, or knew, or at least had a "passing interest" in rail travel, and it was "Off To The Races" with him. (I simply had a small Zephyr lapel pin on)
He had to blurt out everything he possibly had ever known, seen, or fantasized about rail travel. Of course he had on a RR hat, with pins, and a RR shirt, so he was easily a marked man, but OMG. It was thee worst hour and a half. Even though I tried really hard, to steer the convo to something slightly topical, within seconds, it was back to "....Well, yeah, but once when I was riding the xyz train...."
I was with my 13 year old son, and his friend, and this was on the Zephyr. I tried a couple of times to bring up a topic that the two boys could engage in, but "Old Mr. RR Blabermouth" butt right in, and didn't let either of them get a word in, barely.
We decided to take our dessert to the SSL, and of course Mr. Diarrhea Of The Mouth said, "What a GREAT IDEA!" Ugh. My son then took up the clue, and said, "Dad, Zach and I are gonna go back to the sleeper instead........" I opted to join them. But Mr. RR Know-It-All wasn't done.... "What car are you in?" I feigned ignorance of car numbers, and he then proceeded to inform me of the number system, as it relates to the position of the diner.......... (duh) as I started to walk back to the sleeper. "He Who Could Not Be Shut-Up" was following, yakking the whole way. I could see my kids looking over their shoulders and laughing at me, knowing that I was still being hounded by this RR-encyclopediaic-who-just-has-to-share-it-all-with-me-in-one-breath railfan.
It was obvious he wasn't developmentally disabled or actually had a serious medical mental condition, rather, he had virtually zero social skills. I ditched him when I got to the upstairs bathroom in the sleeper, but he continued to tell me, thru the shut door, that my bedroom had a toilet in it, and I didn't need to use this toilet. (No **** Sherlock?) I felt trapped, but said "Screw this", I'm not letting some over-zealous foamer make me hide in the loo.
I opened the door, and what a glorious sight I saw! He had sunk his railfan claws into another unsuspecting sleeper passenger, and was chatting them up, hovering above them in the doorway of their roomette, effectively blocking the poor soul from any means of escape. I made a quick exit stage left, and retreated to the SSL, at a rapid pace.
Did we see him again? Yup. The Zephyr takes a few hours to X the country. But when I did, or my boys did, we all tried not to make eye contact, and did a rapid about face.
That experience has haunted me for some time, and perhaps made me little more cognizant of how much RR drivel I let go from my mouth, just to be safe.
