Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Lessons on Listening
About two posts ago, I told you about an old friend and her husband who came to visit, both of whom are chronic yammerers. I wanted to go into more detail about a conversation I had with the husband. One would think that, when discussing something of interest to me such as TV shows, I would be interested. However if the person I’m speaking to keeps on talking as if I had never spoken, I lose interest fast. Here is a fine example of what not to do in a conversation, starring Yammering Husband:
Him: Have you been watching Battlestar Galactica?
Me: I caught the premier and one other show back at the old house last year, but we don’t have cable anymore since we moved.
Him: It is such an awesome show, you really should watch it.
Me: Well I might, if I had cable.
Him: I have the entire season on DVD, if you’re interested.
Me: Well I might be, but my sweetheart doesn’t like sci-fi, so we try to find shows we like to watch together. I don’t have all that much free time to myself.
Him: How about Stargate SG-1? That’s a really good show too, you should try to watch it.
Me: That’s on cable too, isn’t it? And it’s a sci-fi show. I wouldn’t get much opportunity to watch it by myself.
Him: Oh, well my wife likes to watch Project Runway. It’s an okay show.
Me: I’d probably watch that too… if I had cable!
Him: You know what another awesome show is? Dead Zone.
Me: I’ve heard of it, kind of like Ghost Whisperer meets Law and Order or something. What channel is that on?
Him: It’s on USA, and it’s about this psychic who can… [enter 3 paragraphs of show description and an entire run-through of part of an episode]
Me: I don’t get that station… I. Don’t. Have. Cable.
Do you see why I got so tired of talking to him? It’s like he sort of heard me, but he just wasn’t listening. If he had, I would not have had to tell him five times that I only get broadcast stations. Dude! Listen to the words I am saying! Listen and internalize it! If you (the reader) are like this, you probably don’t even know it. If you’re a teacher, then please, please do your friends and yourself a favor, pay attention! Conversing with your friends is not a lecture!
This has been a public service announcement.
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