How often do you strike up a conversation with someone who will go on at length about themselves? Then tell you about their high achieving children. Then worm their way into name dropping. etc
The fact that you might have heard their stories at least once before is of no consequence to them, they blether on and on.
Then this happens: you might feel that you are part of a dialogue so you begin to respond with stories of your own ... but you are confounded by your companion's immediate response of greeting other people, something on the table has just caught their eye or making it very clear that the two young women who just happen to be passing are far more interesting than you and your little stories.
A variation of this is to be told, that's nothing, hear this!
If you mention a book they haven't read they are likely to say, "Is there any reason why I should have read it?" In some cases, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime for example, the answer is a most definite YES!
This is why a lot of people who travel for a living are not worth bothering with: they are insular, self centred and ill mannered people.
How about this: you have just done a week's work and as a result of client evaluations, you learn that 40% of them rated you as so bad that they will report you to head office for your dreadful attitude/performance. After someone was tipped off that this had just happened to him, his response was
a) to say he didn't give a f**k what they think; then
b) rabbit on about Kuala Lumpur, Paris, London, Dubai and the other fascinating cities that his poxy clients are taking him to.
It gets to you sometimes!!
DW
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