400 Jockey-
You really hit the nail on the head. Small-talk is pointless as far as women go. They subvert any hint of attention or passive conversation into a possibility that the guy they're talking to might actually be trying to get into their skirt. Heh. And while thats probably true most of the time, it's not like men try and hide it in the workplace. That would be stupid, what's the point? The problem with women in [general] in the workplace is that they don't want to be treated like equals, they want to be treated like women. They merely want to be paid equally in the workplace thus the hostility, resentment and writeups which probably are one of only a handful of things that justify and bolster their presence to begin with. So if dating co-workers is your thing, good luck. It's a lose-lose situation for you, and at a princely $79 an hour (hahahaha...sorry) c/a's obviously have a lot less to lose than you!
-C...