To be fed up of people talking 'at' me?

[CockOhDial]

I seem to attract types that just want to talk and talk and talk with no listening to anything anyone else has to say and no opportunity for anyone else to get a word in edgeways.

I like listening to people and chatting but I find it draining and boring when it's literally a one way street and the other person doesn't listen to a single word that I say.

It's happened to me a whopping 3 times today; once this morning at school drop off, a mum who talks and talks and talks collared me and wouldn't shut up for 15 minutes until I managed to get away. Then I went into a shop and again the person serving me had verbal diarroea and talked 'at' me about a camping trip he'd been on (it was a food shop, nothing at all to do with camping) for 10 minutes.

Now I've just had a parcel delivered and the delivery man talked at me about his dogs as soon as he saw we had a dog in our garden. I couldn't get a word in and in the end I had to almost shut the door on him, he was like Mr Chatterbox!

I am fucked off with it. Like I said, I love chatting to people but can't bear it when it's literally one person droning on and on and on with zero self awareness or consideration for others.

STBXH is like this and his mum too. In phone calls he'll spend whole minutes asking one question, because it can't possibly be asked in just a few words- there always has to be a full description of what he thinks, any possible deviations etc.

But then, nothing I had to say was ever as important /interesting as him. One reason he's stbXH

However- I have one friend who talks and talks and talks, and I don't mind it. I find that although she does this, she does actually listen when I talk, and also she's great to have at parties- you can rely on her to break the ice with anyone. So there are upsides sometimes.

I hate this. I work with a woman who literally doesn't listen to a word I say, she asks something then interrupts to say something else.

Customers will talk about something and I try and join in and they ignore me and carry on talking.

Mum of my ds's friends will come up to me start talking, doesn't let me get a word in then says anyway, sticks her hand up then goes and does it to someone else.

My in laws are soooooo quiet I find myself blethering on to fill the silences but in my friendship group, I'm the quiet one sitting getting talked at. I think its rude actually. I worked with a woman for three years, knew every detail of her life, she knew nada about me.

I'm vowing that as of today I refuse to listen to anyone who talks 'at' me!

Good on you OP! It's made me think about it too. Let's stop 'em in their tracks :)

If someone interrupts me, I just carry on talking as if they hadn't. They get the message eventually.

Yes, we'll make a stand, NearlyChristmas!

Neoprene I have tried that in the past but the person that is talking usually doesn't back down and stop talking they just talk louder and louder.

In that case, so do I. I throw in a fixed stare for good measure too.

Neoprene. You do realize that you are the person we are talking about?

Never mind subtle hints or body language: my DM, when I'm wrestling with the children straight after school, will talk at me over their requests for a snack or drinks while I'm trying to help them, will assume I'm saying, 'Please can you hold on a minute,' to them, even though I'm looking at her, and will actually follow me out of the room and talk at me through a locked toilet door just to keep me updated on her colleague's sister's nephew's neighbour's cat's vet's brother's trip to somewhere in Germany one year.

And for anyone who says, 'Oh, but you'll miss her when she's gone' – probably, but it's fucking exhausting right now.