Although I'm all for being polite and cordial when dealing others, sometimes I just want to ride the elevator a few floors or walk in the same direction as a co-worker without feeling an obligation to chat it up about my weekend with somebody I interact with once or twice a week. Yet there's this unspoken pressure and expectation that views silence as rudeness, and one's expected to fill that uncomfortable void with meandering and banal dialog about the weather, your weekend, how you like your iPhone, what's the stock at today, blah… blah… f'ing blah.
I'm really not trying to be aloof or standoffish. I simply find forced conversation painful and pointless most of the time. Yet almost mandatory, too, and if I don't participate I feel guilty and awkward.
It's a lose-lose situation.