How would you deal with someone like this?

[Goodytoshoes]

This is going to sound like a petty problem, but trust me when I say it's infuriating.

There's a member of DPs family who we see a lot of. They're close to DC which is wonderful and definitely important.

This person has a terrible habit of talking over others when they speak, they almost act like nobody was talking in the first place, it's quite bizarre. Someone will be in the middle of a sentence and will be explaining something or telling us an anecdote, only to be spoken over halfway through, a lot of the time with something completely unrelated to the discussion.

This isn't something that happens every-so-often, it's very much a frequent thing and I just find it so rude and difficult to deal with.

How would you deal with this?

My colleague does this to me in front of other people all the time and it drives me absolutely insane. Once or twice I have fallen silent until she drew breath and then said "as I was saying," and continued, but most of the time I just go quiet and bright red with fury. Which isn't great.

You could try saying "I'm still talking!" with a smile, if you think you can manage it. I think it needs to be good natured in order to work. Easier said than done!

My FIL does this. But only really to me. Occasionally his wife who seems to accept it. He truly believes I am entirely inconsequential and is so disparaging of my non-traditional feminist ways, that he tries to put me in my place with this behaviour.

My husband occasionally does this. I say very firmly and loudly, I'm not finished! And continue. It's fucking rude.

I think the only thing you can really do is say "just a minute" when they do it to whoever you are listening to, and get them do the same for you.

Probably something people should have done a lot more when they were a child.

We all know an interrupter! I think there are 2 types. Those that are genuinely rude/ self important and those that talk incessantly out of nervousness or are not wired to understand social cues. The response really depends on which type they are.

If someone talks over me I just keep talking. If they talk over someone else I wait for them to take a breath then turn to the person originally speaking and say "what were you saying."

I say ‘oh, I do believe I was talking there’ and it does the trick with most folk.

Stop talking and walk away from them - they will get the message

In some families this is normal. On my late mother's side of the family, it is expected of everyone to talk at all times. Since they're used to it, they can listen to everybody simultaneously. Nobody is interrupted really, since all of them are interrupted all the time.
I know it sounds strange, but it's the way they function.
People who do not talk at all times are considered up themselves.
Their gatherings are extremely noisy. :-)

From what you write, could it be the person you are referring to is from such a background ?

I've mentioned it before but saying 'Can I just stop you there?' sometimes works in a situation like this. Most people think you have something to add to the conversation but nope, you just want them to stop talking.

My boss does this. 3 of us were in the office this week, chatting. I counted 6 times that colleague A started a sentence and the boss interrupted her as tho she were of no consequence. Literally every time she started to say something! I was genuinely amazed, trying to listen to what my colleague was saying but unable to due to interruptions from the boss. It was during lunch, so not a work conversation.

So frustrating and rude. I know a few people who do this so i've learned to interrupt them. If they keep doing it, i talk over them.

You could try some of the strategies but if you don't have any luck it may just be best to accept it. Accept that they aren't really interested in what you have to say and try to find other things you can do with them that work better.

@FoggyDay58

Do they have hearing issues?

I'm partially deaf and know plenty of d/Deaf or partially-deaf people. We don't blunder in and start talking over people, we're perfectly capable of waiting for a gap in the conversation.

My whole family does this to each other! Me included. It’s really annoying. It’s not that we find what’s being said boring it’s just we have so much to say. I seem to be the only one who it annoys I usually just stop speaking when it happens to me. I do try and not do it to others I really try!

@Goodytoshoes

This is going to sound like a petty problem, but trust me when I say it's infuriating.

There's a member of DPs family who we see a lot of. They're close to DC which is wonderful and definitely important.

This person has a terrible habit of talking over others when they speak, they almost act like nobody was talking in the first place, it's quite bizarre. Someone will be in the middle of a sentence and will be explaining something or telling us an anecdote, only to be spoken over halfway through, a lot of the time with something completely unrelated to the discussion.

This isn't something that happens every-so-often, it's very much a frequent thing and I just find it so rude and difficult to deal with.

How would you deal with this?

Is it...my relative? It's actually shocking to me how she doesn't even seem to notice it. But alas, I just go along with it. She's been doing it for years, she's not going to change.