I made small talk with an acquaintance today who has been less than six months on a new job for a company that I’ve never worked for and have no inside familiarity with. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hey, how’s the new gig treating you?”

Acquaintance: “It’s great! I was just promoted to the CRT and have been asked to be on the ARPS team twice. In fact, I set the JIB for the RFP’s multiple times and they say I’ll be RM of the RADM soon if I can get my QLS’s up. But I’m definitely in line for the IWR Team for sure.”

Me: Well, I have some popcorn shrimp in the oven. Glad it’s going well.

That conversation could have carried on for hours had I not gone with my “I’m cooking popcorn shrimp” bailout line. I figure this is a much less confrontational exit from a conversation than “What in the hell are you talking about? Do you know those acronyms mean nothing to people who aren’t on the payroll of your company?”