Takin it to a Whole Nother Level...

In a social setting there are all kinds of different people. You have the quiet people, the social butterflies, the socially awkward, the confident, and then you have the ones who are just annoying. Sometimes you can't place your finger on why someone is annoying. Then sometimes you have that moment of clarity when you figure out why you can't stand to have a conversation with someone. Now, I am telling you this for a reason. I recently had this moment of clarity.

There is this woman who has a daughter in the same class as my daughter. While she is nice enough, she is a little socially awkward, which I am fine with, but then there was just something else about her that just irritated me about her and I couldn't figure out why. I was wracking my brain and replaying the scenes of my conversations with her for the last week and a half trying to figure out why I didn't like her. I have this overwhelming compulsion to try to like everyone. It really bothers me when I can't figure out why I don't like someone. Then lastnight after about an hour of thinking on the subject, I had my moment of clarity. She is an interrupter, one upper, close talker. She is the pinnacle of the annoying conversationists.

The scene: Standing outside my daughters classroom waiting for school to dismiss and talking to another mother from the class.

The conversation we were having was just general mommy stuff. I was saying something about not getting much sleep because KiKi was not sleeping through the night very well and is ending up in my bed by 4 am every night. From behind me I hear: "Oh you think that's bad..." (Interuption), she then cuts between the lady I am talking to and myself gets into my bubble of personal space (close talking) and then continues "well my daughter didn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time and cried constantly until she was two years old" (one upper).

Holy hand granades lady! I wasn't even talking to you. You were behind me, not even a participant in the conversation. It wasn't like I was talking loudly, broadcasting my bitches and moans to all the parents of the student body. I was just having a chat with another mom. Why are you insistant upon entering the conversation? I am not a snooty person. I am more than willing to let you join in the conversation, but approaching from the front of where we are standing and at least saying "Hi" would be a nice start. Evesdropping and then inserting your opionion is not really a thing that I am fond of. It is rude.

Now I just need to figure out how to deal with this woman for the rest of the year. I refuse to be mean, it just isn't in my nature when dealing with other parents. I guess I can just try to bite my tounge and deal with it, but it is going to be difficult.