If I had to classify myself, I would have to say that in general, I’m an easy going, polite and friendly individual. I listen when spoken to, and do my best to show others in the conversation that I am listening to what they have to say. While at work, have you ever noticed certain conversations that seem to re-appear over and over and over again?

Lately, I’ve been noticing the repetition in these conversations and it’s driving me insane! The worst one occurs in the form of a question every Monday; the “how was your weekend?” open-ended questionnaire. I’ve noticed that you can get the effortless, yet extremely soothing “good, how was yours?” response, or occasionally get thrown into the “well, yesterday, I had to go to the store and….”. Yikes. Granted, there are some individuals that are capable of pulling off a 15-minute saga and have you rolling on the floor laughing. However, these terrific storytellers are few and far between. I’ve noticed that the “dull candles” for lack of a better term always save their energy for a nice boring Monday morning pity-fest. The worst part about this conversation is; you almost have to ask it! There’s almost no escape (well I suppose you could start screaming or give them the “look over there!” trick and run out of the room).

Another conversation that has been haunting me comes from specific “special” individuals; the “one-upper” conversation. It doesn’t matter what the conversation is about; football, knitting, cows, politics, soap; you name it, they can pull of a story or situation better than yours (according to them of course). I can go into a general conversation about the way I mow my lawn and get immediately cut-off about how they cut it similar but in a pattern that allows the grass the grow back slower and healthier. My future plan of action is to start a conversation about something extremely general, like the weather, and then just drop an awkward topic out there and see if it sticks; “monkeywrenches, yeap, monkeywrenches”. See if they take the bait.

I feel better now.

Thanks,

-Rob

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