Help with Casual-Conversational Skills

[Choofers]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Maybe you should try drinking alcohol.

That was actually kinda serious. Alcohol is known to make social awkwardness melt away. There's a reason parties and blind dates often are alcohol-centric, while smaller get-togethers with close friends don't have that stereotype attached. Heck, bars exist for that reason. I know that that doesn't really help reading cues and all, but it might make conversation more enjoyable anyways.

This isn't much help, but I think perhaps the best thing would be for you to find specific people who you feel that you can get along with, people who will naturally help you, kinda like Devonin said. If you're really as bad as you say you are, you don't want subtle hints that could be construed multiple different ways. You need something solid. Perhaps your roomates could help you with this, since you're going to have to interact with them while you live in the same space. If you trust them enough, you could simply tell them one day that you're bad at reading social cues, and you want them to blatantly let you know when, for example, a conversation is over, or if you're being to weird with something. If I were one of your roommates, I'd certainly feel less awkward just after having that conversation with you, as weird as it would be, and it would also make me feel alright about being blunt with you in the future. I suspect social niceties and worries about hurting your feelings make things more awkward than they need to be, even with your lack of skills.

As a former alcoholic, I will say this: Don't drink if you don't want to drink.