The art of social nosiness is alive and well at Chevy Chase Bank

Have you ever been listening to a conversation with two other people and realized that you really wanted to say something? Have you seen someone reading a book that you loved so much that you want to emphatically tell them how great of a book it is? Have you ever been on an airplane and some moron behind you is telling his kid that the plane he is looking at is a Boeing 747 and you want to turn aroud and say "you idiot, you are lying to your kid - we are at Washington National Airport and a Boeing 747 wouldn't even make it off this piddly runway"? Ok, perhaps just me on that last one....

The art of social nosiness is one that draws a fine line between being nice and friendly or annoying and nosy. It just so happens that I have two examples - both of my examples happen to be at the same place - Chevy Chase Bank (2 different locations though).

The first one took place after our wedding. I was so excited to deposit the checks that we received as gifts that I went to the bank the day after our wedding which was also the day we left on our honeymoon. I listed the checks on the 2 deposit slips and went up to the teller. As we made small talk, the teller began to realize that I had just gotten married due to the large amount of checks. I guess I didn't look 13 and proud that I just read from the torah... Anyway, the teller started to input the checks when she stumbled upon one that was the biggest amount and said "Wow - this check is really nice". I laughed a little bit only because I knew that it was her social nosiness that felt the need to comment.

The other example happened more recently. Our friend Marci was writing us a check for a trip we are taking to Mexico later this year and in the memo, she had written the words "Mexico!". And lets be frank - an exclamation point is needed when you are going on a vacation of any sort. So when I went to Chevy Chase Bank this time, the nice teller was going through the deposit process and said "Ooh, looks like someone is going on a great trip to Mexico". Now for this one I was in a better mood. I ended up talking to the woman about the great deal we got on airfare and the resort and then she mentioned to me she had a fear of flying and hated turbulence. I told her that no airplane has ever fallen out of the sky due to turbulence and some techniques to calm people down if they are a nervous flyer. We had a great conversation and then I was off to work.

So the question remains? Is social nosiness ok in some situations and not in others? I remember once commenting to a woman on the metro reading The Kite Runner that the book was amazing (sorry jen p, the world disagrees). She seemed to be ok with my comment but secretly could have said "shut up boy and let me read my book!" In reality, for someone as talkative as myself - it is really hard to manage the appropriate level of social nosiness.

Maybe we can all do a test of the threshold of social nosiness? Next time you are writing a check to someone write in the memo one of the following:

• Bank Tellers are awesome
• Bank of America rocks my world
• Taliban Summer Camp Payment
• Imelda Marcos Shoe Buying Seminar
• Paris Hilton's Etiquette Class
• Smile if you love the Ebola virus

After that, your friend will ask you to pay them back in cash!