Rocket123 wrote:
beneficii wrote:
I just went "uh huh uh huh" to shut down the conversation and get back to my thing.
If I remember correctly (from a work class I took many years ago), saying "uh huh" is considered part of "active listening".
According to
http://www.basic-counseling-skills.com/ ... ening.html, you can "encourage the speaker to continue with short, gentle comments like 'uh-huh'."
The only way I know how to end a conversation at work quickly, is to say something like, "excuse me, I would love to talk, but I have a meeting".
The problem is that dealing with interpreting random conversations takes too much processing power and derails your train of thought.
I try to keep it a little formulaic and on the surface:
"Hey, how are you?" only requires the response, "How are you?"
If the person then goes into more detail, you have to decided either to seriously attend to what they are saying or evade with something like:
"Really? Sounds great. Well, back to the grindstone!"
Or simply, "Sorry, I have to run."