JohnJ_8_Q
Does it ever frustrate someone when someone does the pretend to listen to you and they make it painfully noticeable? For example, you get the uhua, oks, yehas, and it becomes even more painful for you to finish your story?
Does anyone have any suggestions for someone like this? Should you just stop. Should you say never mind your not listening anyways, or do you change your story midway through just to have some fun with the person?
And a confession, I talk too much and need to start to listen more.....
posted by Unknown @ 10:01 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I understand exactly what you're talking about... I think how I handle that situation depends on who I'm speaking to... For example if I'm talking to my mom about a project I'm working on & I start getting too technical (my mom has no computer skills) I start to notice her loosing interest, but she pretends she is listening... I try to be a little more vague & shorten my description. Sometimes I get frustrated with my boyfriend because I feel like he's not listening, so I just stop talking & then he realizes that he was zoning out. That just drives me crazy... With a friend or just a random person, I just kind of end my story with "Anyway..." and stop there.... If they were actually interested in what you were saying they'd ask you to continue...
One of my roommates in undergrad was completely oblivious to this. He would go on and on about God knows what and I would just throw out "uh huhs," "oh yeah?s" and "mm hmms." He just never got the hint. It was amazing.
I think the solution here would be to improve our own storytelling skills. For example, as pointed out in this chapter, form your story so that it relates to your audience. Make them want to listen.
When someone's clearly not listening, I typically just bring it up. Maybe not in a professional setting, but certainly among friends and family. Acting like you're listening is just rude... so why not confront the person?
....see...my problem is that I have problems concentrating and just listening. If I can participate in your story it is no big deal but sometimes - especially when I have a bad day- I just switch out without even wanting it....
....oh..btw...and I talk too much, too and notice it too late...I always feel bad about it but when I am rollin - I am hard to stop. But I really hate people that interrupt you after five sentences and blurt out "you are talking too much"....makes me wanna do evil things to them...
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