Message ID: bimdkc$b6mul$1@ID-202214.news.uni-berlin.de
We have a colleague at work who has spent the last 12 years talking about one -- and only one -- subject: his only child's progress in school. For over a decade, we have received daily 20-minute updates on 3rd-grade spelling bees, 5th-grade math quizzes and 9th-grade term paper topics. Once he starts, it's impossible to make him stop.
And it doesn't end at work. Last year many of us received phone calls at home on a Saturday morning informing us of her just-in SAT scores.
This fall, his daughter starts Yale. Four years in Alcatraz might be preferable to four years of Ivy League stories. Short of homicide, do you have any ideas?
-- Boola Boola
The way to distract someone from a well-worn topic is to politely change the subject. When he calls you at home to share, a simple "Gosh, Ted, this is my day off, could this wait until Monday?" might suffice.
Or you could just tolerate a behavior for years, be really mean behind his back and then threaten homicide. Do you see what I mean? He could be the most boorish jerk in the world, but at this point, you are being almost as inconsiderate as he is.
My condolences, it is not easy trying to work with someone whose entire existence seems to center on their kid. You can, for all that it's worth, take comfort in the fact that you have a life and an identity of your own, whereas this guy obviously does not.
Gagging and Duct taping him in his cube, though appealing, is not really a practical solution.
What you could do is divert the topic to something that he might find about as appealing as you find his constant updates. May I suggest your great aunt's colostomy procedure? The warning signs and effects of the Ebola virus?
If "La Proud Papa" is bothering you at work, take it up the line to a supervisor saying, truthfully, that he is constantly distracting you from your work. If at home, you can screen your calls. Or, if you choose to be blunt, since you are off company time, you can always ask straight out "SoandSo, whatever gave you the idea that I am interested in any way, shape or form about what Brattney is doing? Put a sock in it."
ChildFree Abby