there are many people who, when they talk to me, make me start to giggle. i try to suppress it, but it starts to spiral out of control because they have no idea what i am spluttering about, and they then ask me what i find funny in the tone of voice that made me laugh in the first place.
it snowballs until i am incapacitated with laughter, but i know that i am doing irreparable damage to my association with the person who is talking to me, yet i can not help it and so i just run out of the situation. that looks very bad, and i can not think of anything to tell them about why i suddenly started laughing.
it is a serious problem when i meet important clients who i imagine (by looking at them) will talk in a particular type of way, and when they open their mouth and speak, it is so completely different from what i expected that i suddenly brace myself to prevent my laughter. it is like trying to suppress a sneeze, and i lose the battle and snort with an explosive outburst of shackled laughter.
i am seen as a seriously misguided fool in professional settings because i just can not ignore their voice (if it is strange to me) and proceed in a sober and reverent manner.
some people talk like what i imagine cartoon characters may speak (their vocal characteristics become exaggerated in my mind) , and it seems to "tickle" a place inside me where i just erupt and blow my cork of restraint.