Comments on: Do You Interrupt People or Finish Their Senten’I Do’

By: Too Much Knowledge can be Bad for Your Health | Jenny From the Blog presents . . . . The Suburban Jungle

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:05:53 +0000

[...] So, as the Dr’s assistant, AKA, the Nurse was putting on the wires to the heart monitor I was to wear for the next 24 hours, I exuberantly said, “The Doctor told me about the valves, that…” At this point she interrupted as if she knew where I was going and thought it a good time to take over (See – Why do people insist on finishing other people’s sentences for more on that one.) [...]

By: Dee

Dee — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:31:23 +0000

I have a friend who calls me ‘daily’… She’s married & doesn’t work & I am a ‘single’ retired woman.. We’ve been friends for many years, however, now that I am retired, her calls are ‘daily’, after he husband leaves for work.. When I was working, every day off she’d call me.. Truthfully I don’t have that much of a change from day to day, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that this ‘daily call’ is something I don’t need. She’s continually talking and if I say anything to contribute to the conversation, she’s interrupting me and never lets me finish a sentence or she’s ‘second guessing’ what the end of my story will be.. I have told her on numerous occasions that she’s interrupted me, or to ‘let me finish what I was saying’ but it doesn’t SINK IN…To me, it seems like people who ‘interrupt’ all the time are those that are so AFRAID they won’t be listened to, they have to interrupt so you’ll HEAR THEM… Now, I’m teaching her the ‘computer’ and various new ‘technology’, and there again, I tell her to ‘be quiet and listen’..but I just think her attention span is too short…It’s frustrating and mind boggling that people continue to interrupt you when you’ve told them that they do it all the time… If I’m talking with her husband, it’s continual interruptions, she’s asking him questions and not even contributing to the conversation…or even listening at all to LEARN… I will attempt a few more times to bring this ‘bad habit’ to her attention, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll just ‘hang up’ and talk to her another time…MAYBE… Even when we go for lunch, and we’re across the table from each other, it’s a continual battle to finish a sentence…or if I’m talking to the waitress, she interrupts… Perhaps it’s insecurity or A.D.D… but whatever it is, it’s FRUSTRATING!!

By: Joyce

Joyce — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:37:14 +0000

I’m working very hard to overcome my interrupting-other-people habit. But I do it because I used to be painfully shy, and I interrupt when I’m afraid the conversation might lag–I’m afraid that silence means I didn’t keep up my end of the conversation.

By: Ash

Ash — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:22:54 +0000

I’m afraid I do the “finish your sentence” thing too, though I never realized it until it was pointed out to me recently. (I am one of those always-in-a-hurry -to-do-the-next task kind of people, so maybe that’s why. Or maybe I was raised by wolves.) I know it’s obnoxious, but it’s a really hard habit to stop. Most of the time I don’t even know I’m doing it until after I’ve done already it. I’m trying to learn to be mindful of it, though.

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:55:34 +0000

I had to look this topic up this morning because I met someone in person for the first time after a long and friendly internet correspondence, and she interrupted me to finish all of my sentences, jumping in to guess what I’m going to say and I never got to the end of any sentence, suffering multiple interruptions. I was flabbergasted. In between my attempts to actually express myself (and failing more than half the time) she went on long, completely rambling speeches that went from one topic to another and mentioning people I didn’t know and their mothers-in-law and cousins and then jumping back a topic to something else that was said an hour earlier. I was looking forward to meeting up with this person, who has done me some significant favors in terms of advice and support remotely, and finally had to cut the evening short and go home… I couldn’t take it anymore. This person was like Earful – the more I tried to actually say what I was trying to say, the louder she got. I finally had to surrender and fell silent. I don’t know how anyone can endure this woman – it is completely intolerable.

By: Earful

Earful — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:57:56 +0000

Well here’s a kicker: Not only does she interrupt CONSTANTLY, but if you try and regain control of the conversation, she’ll interrupt LOUDER! So she can overtalk you in every sense of the word.

How does one handle that? Apparently me stopping dead in the middle of a sentence and closing my eyes and then repeating what I said after she’s done … isn’t getting it.

By: k8

k8 — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:28:46 +0000

“but it actually makes the speaker unconsciously feel rushed, nervous, and annoyed; both your pulses speed up, which can cause irritability and a defensive tone to erupt”

Actually it makes you feel completely disrespected and lets your audience (cause that`s all we are to you ppl that chronically do this) know that you don`t really want to know who we are and what we believe in. I give you one chance to stop this crap during a conversation and then I completely shut down and let you make an ass of yourself. You usually think you know where I`m going with the conversation, and you are wrong 99% of the time. So I let you yammer on and continue to interrupt me with your “oh-so-superior“ insights and when you finally say something like `do you know what I mean`or `don`t you think so` trying to get me to wrap up the conversation by letting you know we`re on the same page but you just summed it up first (cause you`re just so smart and fast!) that`s when I drop it on you. No, I say, actually my point was this and I sum it up and listen to you stupidly say “oh…..“ and then I hang up the phone or walk away, suddenly I`m the one that doesn`t have time for you–you`re just too stupid to converse with after all. And some of us don`t let you know that that`s what we`ve done…we`re just silently mocking you instead.

It`s quite fun sometimes!!
It`s a good screening tool too.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:47:12 +0000

Sometimes if the person is saying a sentence, and then seems to stall, looking for a word related to the topic being discussed, I will interrupt with the word, and then the other person will repeat the word and continue on with the thought… is this wrong for me to do? I’d really like to know, because I sometimes get the feeling that they’re actually stuck, so instinctively I want to help out, but am I doing more harm than good?

By: Michele McGraw

Michele McGraw — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:43:20 +0000

I do that all the time. I’ve been trying to stop it, but it’s a horrible habit to break. I just have way too many things going on and I can’t wait for them to take their sweet slow time.

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:57:33 +0000

Thank god I found your article!! I do the same thing!! But I didn’t look it at it from the point of view where in fact I m so busy needing to get to the next point that I interrupt in order to speed up the though of the other person and to get trough the conversation so I can finish whatever else I need to do next….BUT its still a bad habit!!! and that habit should be used only when necessary and PLEASE do not try to use it at home, at home what you should do the most is to listen and understand ( spouse, children, parents etc…)

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:44:50 +0000

I hate when people do this, though I totally do it myself. But, when I do it it’s okay, because I’m in a rush and you’re boring me:)

By: Barry

Barry — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:30:49 +0000

I don’t mind being interupted. I’m uninteruptable ( is that a word )? Forget I asked, I don’t want to be interupted!! I don’t stop talking, even if someone has tried to finish my thought. I change my thought in order to make that person feel rude, dumb or both. Ive found i’m pretty much guaranteed a receptive, interested and polite audience if I talk to myself. If my conversation with me becomes boring, I end the conversation by walking away.