There was a guy on a train last year who tried to convert me. I knew the conversation was trouble when he asked how my weekend was, then I asked back and he mentioned a 3 day bible study retreat :/ He hopped on at stratfield and hopped off at woy woy - that's an hour+ solid of this guy trying to convert me. I had the window seat, I was stuck. He kept going on and on. I explained that I do not have belief in what he does, that I believe in evolution and that I was not interested in what he was trying to offer (he was one of these fundamentalist, creationist types. The real scary ones.). So yeah, for this whole time I'm just humouring him, then when he started to talk about genetics and science and him saying it was trash - I just let it all out in the politest manner I freaking could without starting an argument. I just started laying down facts which he had been wrong about, scientific facts, not religious ones. I didn't shit all over him when he was talking about how his spiritual journey was rewarding, but he decided to shit all over me when I said that I've been a science student for the past 5 years. Screw it. So after letting go, it's super silent (thank fark) and then he says he's going for fresh air. Where do you find fresh air on a intercity, piece of crap, green seated train that wasn't going to stop for another 10 minutes
Yeah, fucking coward. Initiate a conversation, don't stick around when it gets awkward. It's like when those people from India call you to tell you your "we're from microsoft security. Your windows xp has a virus" and you tell them to stop scamming you over the phone or you're going to call the police, then they hang up.
Moral of the story: I'm never engaging with small talk with people on trains ever again. Lesson learned.