How can I interupt conversation properly

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emmasma
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10 Mar 2011, 9:44 am

OK I know, aspies interrupt all the time, I know I do, so you think I would be good at it! :) My problem is that I have troubles doing it the right way when I need to. I am a nurse assistant, which means I have to constantly find my charge nurse and tell her things that patients need from her, like pain medication, or if there are problems, like if someones blood pressure is abnormally high. She is very chatty, in a good way, she tells great stories and sometimes takes a while (and has important conversations about work stuff too). Often (many times per day), when I need to tell her something she is in the middle of a conversation with people in the nursing station and I need to interrupt and ask her for something for a patient. It is awkward because there are usually at least 3 or 4 other coworkers there too, also involved in the conversation, and I hate to stop it and draw all the attention to my awkwardness.
I usually do one of two things;

*walk in and politely wait for her to finish talking.
*walk in and blurt out her name, apologize, and say what I need too

If I wait for her too stop, she usually does not until some other person finally breaks in and says "do you need something?" because I have been standing there looking awkward for too long. If I just blurt it out in the middle, I feel rude and everyone comes to a stop and looks at me.

Does anyone else have issues with entering a room where there are already a group of people talking like this? How could I make this less troublesome.
I was going to put this in the work and finding a job area, but it seems more pertinent to social skills in general.



zeldapsychology
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10 Mar 2011, 12:32 pm

I feel medications and blood pressure are major concerns butting in I feel is fine. Excuse me X but Y person needs medicine or there blood pressure is high etc. an excuse me, should suffice. Nt's and there trivial talking, patients are far more important than any conversation the charge nurse is having with someone!! !! Patients health are way more important!! !! !



daedal
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10 Mar 2011, 1:04 pm

I usually just stand and wait for someone to pay attention to me- I count on them having noticed me first and then turning to me. It's actually pretty rude of them to finish their conversation five minutes after I've politely come up to them and started waiting. But whatever. Apparently I also have a very quiet voice (hey, I can hear it just fine! In fact it sounds pretty loud to me) and sometimes I'll say 'excuse me' a few times and they won't hear it. I also don't have the same inflections as a lot of people, so that probably plays a part. That's when it gets awkward.



jedaustin
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10 Mar 2011, 1:18 pm

I suggest interrupting but starting with an apology:
"I'm sorry to interrupt but... "



emmasma
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10 Mar 2011, 1:58 pm

zeldapsychology wrote:
I feel medications and blood pressure are major concerns butting in I feel is fine. Excuse me X but Y person needs medicine or there blood pressure is high etc. an excuse me, should suffice. Nt's and there trivial talking, patients are far more important than any conversation the charge nurse is having with someone!! !! Patients health are way more important!! !! !


A lot of times they are having important medical conversations as well. I'm not arguing that I should not interrupt. Obviously I must and I do. No body is ever upset with me for interrupting for these reasons. It is just awkward for me and them as well sometimes because I am visually uncomfortable about it sometimes. I want to do it without feeling (and acting) so self conscious. This particular nurse, as well as most all of them work before and after shifts and almost never take breaks, even though they are not paid for it. In many cases the requests are quite trivial, but I still need to let her know. Just because someone is an Nt does not mean they are trivial, this problem is a fault of mine, not theirs. I don't hold it against people if they are able to socialize properly, even though I can't.
Sorry about the rant, nothing personal.



emmasma
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10 Mar 2011, 2:02 pm

jedaustin wrote:
I suggest interrupting but starting with an apology:
"I'm sorry to interrupt but... "


Yes that is what I am working on kindof. I think I need some more phrases though, so I don't say the very same thing every time all day. I think I am over thinking it. :D



jedaustin
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10 Mar 2011, 2:05 pm

I probably don't always do this kind of thing right.. when faced with an awkward social situation I communicate another way such as write a note and hand it to them, send an email, etc.
So while a stack of postit notes could lower that stress it won't help you get better at dealing with that kind of situation.



emmasma
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10 Mar 2011, 2:13 pm

jedaustin wrote:
I probably don't always do this kind of thing right.. when faced with an awkward social situation I communicate another way such as write a note and hand it to them, send an email, etc.
So while a stack of postit notes could lower that stress it won't help you get better at dealing with that kind of situation.


I do that sometimes, too, if it is something that is not an immediate, urgent need and she is talking about something very important.

I guess now that I have been analyzing it in my head the last few hours I think I do pretty good in this particular situation. I think it is mostly in my head. Sometimes thinking too much is my problem.



Parysa
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10 Mar 2011, 7:20 pm

Have you ever tried talking to her about it directly? She sounds like a nice person, so maybe just say, "I know I interrupt you a lot and I'd like to find a way to get information to you without being rude. Is there something I can do that would work better for you when you're busy because I feel bad when I need to interrupt an important discussion." I would advise using the word discussion rather than conversation because conversation may make her feel like you're trying to insinuate that the things that she's talking about are trivial or something else that's negative when that's not what you mean. But that way, you can get across to her that you feel uncomfortable when you have to do this and open lines of communication with her.