Enjoy the ride

I used to work with this guy, I'll call him "Joe". Now, Joe was a nice guy, for the most part, he only became a problem when what you were talking about wasn't a. about him or b. interesting to him. When this would happen, instead of just walking away or tuning out, he would wait for someone to take a breath and would immediately jump in with something about himself. I think, he felt that whatever it was he had to share was so important, profound, or just plain funny that it couldn't wait.

Well, there's the problem. When he did tell us something, it was neither important, profound or funny at all. You could almost hear the crickets in the background when he finished. One really didn't know where to look. As my father used to say, his comments went over "like a fart at high mass".

Which brings me to my point, if you are going to position yourself as the center of attention, then you better have a good reason for being there or at least interest the people who are listening to you. I know, I know I'm guilty of this myself, but at least I try to be interesting (I hope). Being the center of attention is not an easy feat, people want it but they have no idea what it takes to stay there. I think they think if they say something loud enough or do something crazy like mention their ass, then people will automatically be fascinated by what they say. I've seen it happen and it's not pretty. Hell, it's even happened to me, but the difference is at least I know when I've bombed and have the good grace to walk away.

Bottom line, if you're going to hijack a conversation, at least let the victims enjoy the ride. That's what I learned today.