I find it very difficult to make small talk with people. The fact that I work as a cashier currently and have such a hard time with small talk makes for some awkward encounters with people who want to make idle chit chat. I've been struggling with this for the past few months. I've gotten better but was hoping someone here could give me some advice, so I can stop with the awkward quietness and with saying the wrong things and the wrong times. Most interactions I have with people now, are really just me operating on a muscle memory. They said that, I should say this. It's for the most part sub conscious now, but sometimes I get jolted into some conversation that I wasn't expecting.  This is a side note but I hate small talk. I've always hated small talk. It comes across as disingenuous to me. I think in English culture and language we have peppered in all these emphatic pointless expressions, that lack meaning and are only really used for general social communication. For an example, an English speaker in the UK could come up to you, knowing that last week your entire family had been killed in a fire, and ask you how you're doing. Small talk and questions like that annoy me because typically people don't care how you're doing, or how the weather is, or anything else they say to fill in the silence. I'd be much more content with people just saying, hello and goodbye. At least that would be honest. It feels like every time I'm forced into small talk, I'm forced into lying and playing a role. How can I get over this feeling and start to actually get good at, and maybe even enjoy small talk?