You ever get that feeling? Or more likely, ever the cause of that feeling? Like you’re talking and the subject of your words has a blank stare, they are not fully engaged in the conversation as it were. You could be totally into your story and at the punch line and at the expected gasp you turn to your listener and find them dead to your speech. Oops.
Sometimes this is purely a self-defense mechanism. Like in the movie Airplane where Ted Striker is giving a heartfelt rendition of his troubles to his seat mates only to have them commit suicide in various ways, ie, hanging, self-inflicted gunshots, burning, etc. I’m not intending anyone to actually kill themselves to avoid listening to a boring story, but the point has been made. The last thing anyone wants to do is stay fully engaged while someone is going on and on about their trip to Cleveland and all the exciting things they saw and did there. I’m not knocking Cleveland, I’m sure it’s a great place to live, but not exactly on the top 100 list of places to see before you die, now is it?
Now honestly, I think most of the time I am doing the dealin’ and not the receiving. Okay, maybe more of a 60/40 split. 60% of the time I am boring people to death and the other 40% I am being bored. It’s because of my big brain. People just don’t understand what I am saying. He he he. Okay, not really. I’m just a really boring person.
Sometimes when people are talking to me a weird thing happens. Their words fade away, but I am still looking at them. Instead of the words they are saying I hear something else. The words to a Backyardigans song maybe. I’m pretty sure the person is not singing “Hold on tight” but that’s what I am hearing. I am so there. Then I realize the person has stopped singing, I mean talking and they are looking at me expectantly. Oops, there I go again. Depending on the situation, I will either pretend I was listening all along, or fess up and confess I was spacing out thinking of a way to solve the problem at hand.
We’ve all been there, so the next time you are holding forth just a tad too long, and the person with whom you are holding has drifted, be kind. Like I said, we’ve all been there.
Hey, did you listen to anything I just said? Jeez.
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