Trading a friend’s secret for five minutes of attention is the worst deal in the building.

Look at what is actually exchanged. You hand over something that was given to you for safekeeping, and you get a brief spike of being interesting to people who will have forgotten by lunch. The secret keeps moving long after the attention stops, the friend finds out, and what you bought with their privacy is a name as somebody who cannot hold anything. Nothing in the trade favours you.

When a story that belongs to someone else is sitting in your mouth, let the silence be awkward and say nothing. If you need something to offer, offer a question about the person in front of you.