Do you ever wonder why you continue to talk to some people?  I mean, you talk, but you know darn well that they aren’t listening?  Still, you try and try and try, hoping that something you say is going to be heard the way it was meant to be heard.  Well, I don’t want to offend anyone, but I was thinking about this last night and figured that there are certain categories that these people fit into.  Here are ten people who aren’t listening to you when you talk to them:

1.  The Topper:  They aren’t listening to you because they are thinking about a story that will top yours.

2.  The Teacher:  Anything you say gives them an opportunity to “teach” you something they think you don’t know.  Which really means they think you are stupid.

3.  The Twister:  Your words are twisted around and then thrown back at you.

4.  The Half-Baked:  They aren’t ready to hear what you have to say, so you may as well wait until they are ready.

5.  The Opportunist:  Whatever you say gives them an opportunity to show off their rebuttal skills

6.  The Emo:  They enjoy drowning in self-pity and don’t want to hear anything that might change that.

7.  The Blindsided:  You’ve been wasting your words for years trying to break through a wall they have put up around themselves so that they can continue to live in their own little fantasy world.  And when those words finally break through the wall, they act like they’ve been blindsided and now you are being “mean” to them.

8.  The Filterer:  They are filtering everything you say and only hearing what they want to hear.

9.  The Psycho:  They are just waiting to shock you.  These are scary loud people who like to turn everything into an argument or a reason to attack.

10.The Paranoid/Schizophrenic:   They think you are out to get them and anything you say is seen as a personal attack.  And, no, I’m not talking about you, so relax!

http://www.theresadodaro.com   Author of The Tin Box Trilogy