One of my favorite conversation starters has always been to ask someone what are three random facts about themselves.

I’m the kind of person who always has a boatload of randomness stirring around in their brain, so this type of exercise is exceedingly easy for me. I can easily spew out a large amount of silly, informative, or interesting things about myself (or any of my friends), but I’ve discovered that isn’t the way other people’s brains work.

Recently at work, some of my teammates and I began asking this question to other coworkers. It’s been incredibly interesting to hear the answers and has really helped me get to know the people around me better. To make the game more fun, my teammates have even taken turns answering the question for each other. Since our team is relatively small (seven people out of about two-hundred), we get to work together a lot and have lots of time for good conversations.

Some of the random facts that my teammates have said about me include:

-I come from a big family
-That I currently live in a camper with no running water
-That I have two co-authored books (which are sold at the museum where we work)
-That I volunteer to help with various jobs too much

Some of the random facts I give about myself include:

-I once ate a small chip off a fossilized T-Rex tooth (years ago because it was too fragile to put back on the tooth)
-I slept in a tipi for nine months
-I’ve been to five continents

Meanwhile, some of the facts we’ve come up with about our teammates (or heard from our co-workers) include:

-One lady started and sold three different companies
-One guy was born in such a small town that he’s the only guy with a birth certificate that says said town
-Years ago one guy was in the army in Europe and wrote an evacuation plan for dependants that was passed by Congress
-When one lady was born, she had her cord wrapped around her neck twice
-One lady speaks Spanish fluently
-One lady’s mom was named after a candy bar that her mom enjoyed while being pregnant

Getting to know people through random facts about themselves is so much fun. I’ve worked with some of these people on a daily basis for the last several months, yet when you start asking for random facts, you discover a whole new side of them.

What are some random facts about you?