People who tell you EXACTLY what to say and write.

[Pottersciderbar82]

I have a colleague.
Telling her about anything results in questioning for precise information, so for example, I was telling her about some customers who told me that they hadn’t received payment for some items received.
Then ensued questions about exactly how many items, exactly how much was outstanding, exactly the dates of transactions etc.
She has nothing at all to do with my customers so does not need any of this information BUT it’s with every conversation.
Then she proceeds to tell me exactly what I need to say and exactly who I need to talk to, escalate to and exactly what I need to write in follow up emails.
And I mean EXACTLY. Even down to the greeting I should write or say, “ hi Jen, “

Im way too long in the tooth for this shite so struggle to not show irritation.

Why do people do this and more importantly, how do I shut it down kindly?

If it were me, I would walk away from the weather conversation as soon as she started looking for the app, or, if that is not possible, immediately get buried in my own work so if she comes back fussing about the weather you too can pretend not to hear or take it in. If she really insists, ask her why on earth this utterly trivial issue is taking up so much of her time and attention.