Wednesday, May 6, 2015

I’m Sorry! Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours???



So my fiancé touched on a similar topic within his blog, and this topic has been on my list for quite some time.

One thing I CAN NOT stand is being interrupted. I feel like when I was growing up me and my best friend would be scolded for interrupting our parents. Something I assumed most parents taught their kids. Being interrupted is something I struggle with often, especially with certain people I communicate with; it also tends to happen when I am with more than one person at a time. Occasionally when I am with two friends I will begin talking about something and they will interrupt to say something on a similar note.

Example
me “The other day I was on Facebook..”
friend: “OMG, today on Facebook so and so mentioned about being (fill in the blank)….
Me: “Oh, yeah that’s interesting. Well when I was on Facebook I saw on my timeline….”
Friend: “Yeah I couldn’t believe they would do that!!!”

I can’t seem to get back to what I was saying, and the new topic has been dominated by whatever this person feels to be more important.


Another issue I run into is as I am talking someone will be scanning through their phone and see something interesting (text message, Facebook post, Tweet, etc.) and then interrupt me with whatever it is they see!  What is worse is when they keep doing it, I can’t get out a complete thought as they continue to change topics to whatever runs across their minds or cell phones. How hard is it to hold on to your thought or say, “When you are done I have to tell you something!” My fiancé has learned to wait until I’m done because after being interrupted several times I give up on whatever it was I was going to say, and refuse to go further.

 
The worst type of interruption that I have been victim to is talking about something and the other person brings up something completely irrelevant to what I am saying, and continues to talk about it as if I was never speaking in the first place. This makes me feel like they weren’t even listening to me. It could even be read as arrogance. In my opinion when someone does this they are only thinking of themselves and what is on their mind with no respect for the other half of the conversation.

Unfortunately there isn’t much I can do to fix these situations, especially for those who find their thoughts to trump anything I could ever say. In my opinion this is a rude habit for people to partake in, and is something that will eventually lead to them rarely having successful conversations in the future.  
Besides being interrupted I hate having to repeat myself because someone is not paying attention. I had an old friend who would almost make me repeat myself every other sentence because she wasn’t paying attention.  It’s one thing if you cannot hear me, it’s another if you are wasting my breath by being discourteous. I eventually told this friend “I’m going to quite re explain myself, I’m tired of you not listening the first time.” Rude?? Maybe. Necessary for my sanity? Absolutely!

I encourage people to check themselves and pay attention to these social faux pas. I can guarantee it would irk anyone to be interrupted, so why do it to others? I understand they may not realize they are doing it, but I was raised to not be rude!


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