To get very irritated with people who are easily distracted?

Wow. At work? Colleagues taking a random call instead of getting the job done? Really? Someone intentionally wasting your time by chatting to everyone and their dog? Has nothing to do with attention seeking and everything to do with disrespecting OP’s time

I have a friend who is very easily distracted and it drives me mad. We'll meet for a coffee and a chat, but every time someone walks into the cafe she will look to see who it is, watch them walk to the counter, listen to them place an order etc. I can be mid sentence and she'll just talk over me to say "Oh I could tell he was going to order that last piece of cake". Sometimes I want to click my fingers in her face to get her attention back to me but it seems rude, even though what she is doing is rude IMO!

It’s not you! I would feel the same.

she'll say "hang on my mobile/house phone is ringing" and leave me waiting while she goes off to answer another call,

This is really rude. I wouldn’t be sitting there like a spare part while she leaves our call to take another one. I’d hang up!

Haha. Yes, I am quite impatient but this does wind me up. I know mumsnet doesn't like the term, but it's very 'Main Character Energy.' In their heads, the camera is following them and all the side stories they get caught up in, while the rest of us wait, like the supporting cast, only saying our lines once their attention switches to us.

I do quite a lot of "I'll catch you later when you're less busy, bye" these days.

I'm with you on that. My OH and family are the same and it drives me potty. I find them so rude especially as it's a one way street.

I'll listen to them, ask questions, and when they ask me a question and I start answering, it's like they are looking for things to distract them within 5 seconds. Usually something relating to the dog, like 'oh, I love it when he lays on his back, he looks so cute'.

I now won't continue after their interruptions and 9 times out of 10, they don't even ask me to continue or they will 2 minutes later, by which time, my brain has moved on anyway. They complain that I don't go to see them as often any longer 😁

I notice that this is indeed becoming quite common. Its so bad mannered. Even if bored, allowing someone to speak for 5 minutes without interrupting is just common courtesy.

YANBU the family examples are just rude and not acceptable behaviour, the work example is unprofessional, you can’t miss a deadline for a nice chat

I can't see why anyone would think you were being unreasonable, OP. I don't think you sound impatient, particularly with the woman at work. Why not just be sharp with her and say "Can we focus on this as there's a deadline?"

It really isn't!

If its urgent it will be texted, thats just an excuse to pick up every call, ignore it

People who answer their moblie phone to someone like their husband, to answer a querie about where they left the milk etc, when i am with them irl, do my nut

People who answer their moblie phone to someone like their husband, to answer a querie about where they left the milk etc, when i am with them irl, do my nut

YANBU

It fucks me off immensely. It's rude and selfish.
If someone does this to me, I just end the interaction. Their time isn't more valuable than mine so why the fuck should I hang around and wait for them?

There's a chap I talk to used to talk to on dog walks in the local park. You'll be mid-conversation and he'll just distractedly start talking about something else entirely that's grabbed his attention. I used to just stand like a lemon and wait for him to re-engage with me. Fuck that, I just walk off now. Rude cunt.

MIL does this! She calls you and then goes and answers her home phone in the middle! H now puts the call straight down when she does this and won't pick up for the rest of the day as he finds it so annoying.

I think people can be disrespectful and take advantage of someone they don’t see as assertive. So, they don’t prioritise you in their interaction with you, which is rude. Where possible, try and have a word. You have to stand up for yourself and command some basic respect. Just be careful to work on yourself also, see where you maybe going wrong.

God i hate this, just have one conversation

You are not unreasonable. This drives me crazy too, and something else that drives me nuts is when i am in the middle of a task and people think they can walk into my office and ask me a line of questions - WITHOUT politely asking "do you have a minute to go over these queries"? Grrr - I am normally meek and mild but you have just hit my weak spot.

I chat to people as well but I'm mindful of being rude to the person I'm with. There's no problem with saying hello to neighbours but chatting to them while someone is waiting for you, is really rude.

If I'm busy and someone calls, I call them back when I have time to talk. Your colleague sounds incompetent and I wouldn't have any tolerance for their behaviour.

The kind of people who ‘ooh, look, a squirrel….!’ when you are in the middle of a conversation with them, are really annoying and very rude! Friend did this to me when we went for coffee recently. We were chatting, I asked her something, whereupon she spotted someone else she knew across the room, (obviously more interesting), mouthed ‘hello!’ to them and proceeded to have a lengthy mimed and mouthed interaction with them!

I don't think it's just you. These kind of things annoy me a lot as well.

People may be unexpectedly delayed or distracted without knowing about it before they called you. But in those circumstances, they should have the consideration and good manners to either apologise to you and explain what's happened, or tell the other person they're on the phone to you and ask the other person to wait.

If what the other person is saying/doing is urgent, and will take a long time, they should tell you that and ask if they can call you later.

Anybody would get frustrated when they are kept waiting for a while with no apology or explanation.

As for the situation at work, it is simply not on that deadlines are being missed because of this colleague. Something needs to be done about it.