Normally, I'm polite. But stick a notepad and pen in my hand, and I become a shameless snoop.  I will casually ask the sorts of questions your mother probably taught you were rude.

For example on a story about a startup : How much money do you earn?  For a quick quote from a front row celebrity at fashion week: Who are you wearing? It never ceases to delight me that complete strangers are most often quite happy to give direct answers.  And then some. Even so, I was taken aback several years ago when a woman I was interviewing about her job confessed that it was not really what she wanted to do.  What was her ideal job?  She said something to the effect: 

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