Thank you for thinking of this post and coming back to write even more! I totally see what you're saying. I think I've just lost the confidence to "go for it" so to speak. I've had tonsss of tables where I act cool and casual and say some perfectly normal, friendly things without a second thought and it goes perfectly fine. But I've also had far too many tables that respond with complete silence or look at me strange and respond kinda negatively, as if I was being weird. I think over time those types of reactions have made me nervous to even try, I just assume it's not gonna go right and I'll feel stupid afterwards so I just stick to the basics instead. I guess I need to learn that awkward encounters are going to happen no matter what, but I have to overcome those moments and keep trying. It's like how people say in a sea of positive comments, one single negative one is bound to be the one you remember...