People who just can't stop talking...

I just met one of my clients, who is perhaps the nicest man on Earth. He's truly a pleasure to meet and speak to... for about the first 20 minutes. After that, you want to slit your wrists because he just will not shut up. He goes on and on about anything and everything. And the problem is, you can't be rude and cut him off, because he's just so nice.

This got me thinking about what a problem it is that people often, in many settings, simply talk too much. For example,

1. The person who tries to tell too many stories and doesn't recognize that most conversations have a set purpose. You are talking for the sole purpose of exchanging certain information. That should be done with relative efficiency and then the conversation should be over.

2. The person who tries to make every conversation turn back to being about them. Everything you say is met with a story about them, or a similar problem they're having, or just them expressing their opinions about your situation.

3. The person who can't keep a secret.

4. The person who has no filter and thus doesn't have the social grace to keep certain thoughts purely internal as they should be.

5. The person who just rambles incessantly. Perhaps out of nervousness or lack of focus or who knows what, but they just chatter away cluelessly and expect others to either care about what they're saying or to at least not be irritated by the idle chatter.


In essence, I have decided that the root of all evil in this world lies in people not knowing when to shut up. I include myself in this statement as well. But my service announcement to my readers today is -- speak less. Most likely, half of what you say will either be unwanted, offensive, distracting, hurtful, or just an inane waste of someone's time and energy to listen to.

Ironic point seeing as I'm currently pontificating unsolicited thoughts for public consumption. Nice, huh?