Unemployment, the New Bonding Agent

I've taken a second office in the local dog park. The weather isn't too bad (most of the time), my dog gets to frolic (that's her on the right) and there are plastic chairs. Today, I shunned my normal armory (smart phone and book) and chatted with a woman who owns a beagle. While her dog softly mauled mine in a play match (to ... the ... DEATH!!!) we started the old routine of small talk.

A few observations about people with dogs. Actually women with dogs.

1. Within three minutes, if they have children or a husband it will be stated (or alluded to.) 
2. Expect a majority of your chat to center around the dogs. (Oh, look - our dogs are playing together. I hope they wear each other out.)
3. There will be awkward silences every now and then until you can find another subject in common that you can transition to.

It just so happened that me and the beagle owner were able to transition to another subject. Here were some cues from her conversation:

1. I come here for a couple of hours every day.
2. I've been working out a lot. It helps me stay sane, all the endorphins. 
3. There aren't a lot of jobs out there.

So we tentatively embarked on a new strain of conversation. Mutual unemployment.  And after a bit of a hesitant start, we soon were doing the compare and contrast exchange. Her story: She has to dumb down her resume in order to get some responses. (Who knew having a Masters would be considered dead weight?) My story: The sun will come out ... tomorrow. (But softly. No one likes over-optimism.)  In a lot of ways, it was like finding a kindred soul - finding out that other people have felt the same way I do, are worried, are searching, are rejected and don't have the answers they need.

Funny how complex our reactions are when all we need to do is make a buck.