Realistically, do any of you guys ever really say these lines? I couldn't pull out something like that in this situation. I might just go with something innocuous like, "Excuse me, (her: yes?), I think my watch is slow. Do you have the exact time?" From there, I'd gauge her friendliness and maybe bullshit about my POS watch for a few seconds then transition into something else. Maybe the book she's reading. Maybe something else. I'm very situational and can pull shit out of my ass fairly well a lot of the time so keeping it going is not usually a problem unless she's really cold.
Going direct and making it obvious it's a pickup can work, sure, but instead of her feeling like, "fucking guy's trying to pick me up and all I wanted to do was read my book", she's more likely to feel, "guy with busted watch asked me for the time and we started talking and wow, he was really great". I can't think of many girls who prefer to be "picked up" over a "fateful" meeting so unless I'm in a club or something like that, I find indirect works better for me. Deep down, they know it's likely to be a bullshit excuse to talk to her anyway, but on the conscious level, it gives her the excuse she needs to not feel like a slut.
You guys don't find the same thing?
Going direct and making it obvious it's a pickup can work, sure, but instead of her feeling like, "fucking guy's trying to pick me up and all I wanted to do was read my book", she's more likely to feel, "guy with busted watch asked me for the time and we started talking and wow, he was really great". I can't think of many girls who prefer to be "picked up" over a "fateful" meeting so unless I'm in a club or something like that, I find indirect works better for me. Deep down, they know it's likely to be a bullshit excuse to talk to her anyway, but on the conscious level, it gives her the excuse she needs to not feel like a slut.
You guys don't find the same thing?