Christmas-time has proven a boon for two work colleagues in Perth, Western Australia, who have broken the usual uncomfortable silences they share when they find themselves together in the office kitchen.

Chris Maddock, 32, and Melanie Clark, 29, normally avoid walking into the kitchen when the other is there and find it excruciating to make conversation if they somehow end up together alone.

Ms Clark says she always felt she had nothing in common with Mr Maddock but that this week, he surprised her.

“I was in the kitchen making a coffee and trying to pick my nose without being seen when Chris just breezed in and said, ‘Ah, Mel … are you all organised for Christmas?’,” Ms Clark said.

“It made me think that maybe we did have something in common after all, so I told him all about the disastrous shopping trip I’d had, spending ages trying to get a car park and then not being able to find a single present.”

Mr Maddock denies the conversation was pre-meditated.

“Look, I’m the first to admit that I often practise conversations in my head if I know I’m going to walk into the kitchen when someone else is already in there,” he told the Ripper.

“But this time around, it was different. I just walked in there, and even though there was an awkward moment when I thought I’d caught her picking her nose, inspiration struck.”

He says the Christmas-themed question “just popped into my head”.

“I couldn’t believe how well she responded. We actually managed to chat comfortably until the kettle boiled and we’d finished making our coffee, then we shared perfuntory smiles and headed back to our cubicles. I was feeling really positive.”

But Mr Maddock admits his relations with Ms Clark have suffered a setback since the ice-breaker.

“Just yesterday, I got a bit over-confident and thought I might be able to wing a chat with her again but I asked her if she had holidays coming up right as she took a massive bite of her sushi for lunch,” Mr Maddock said, clearly still suffering psychological damage from the incident.

“So there was this terribily uncomfortable silence while she just sat there and chewed and tried to gesticulate.”

But it only got worse from there. Suddenly used to chatting to him, Ms Clark told Mr Maddock how she had bought some slinky lingerie to wear for her boyfriend as a Christmas present.

“I have this terrible habit where once I’ve talked to someone once or twice, I just share too much information,” Ms Clark admits. “I just can’t help myself. I mean, I’ve just met you and already I told you about how I pick my nose in the kitchen. That’s a perfect example. Just don’t go asking me about my love life.”

The journalist responsible for this story also has an issue with revealing too much information about himself. Luckily for the reader, his editors do not.