How to Escape the Office Chatterbox

We’ve all been there: You’re stuck with someone who jabbers the day away, loves to tell long stories that seem to have no end and monopolizes your time on the job. Getting away from the office chatterbox is easier said than done, however. Try these tips to extract yourself gracefully from those long-winded conversations.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Excuse yourself from the conversation and explain that you’re expecting an important phone call, you're late for a meeting or you have to send an important email. In other words, you have work to do.
2. Use the bathrom break or coffee break excuse. This is perhaps the easiest and most understandable excuse. “Hey, I was just on my way to the men’s room. I’ll catch up with you later" or “I’ve got to make myself some coffee. See you a bit later.”
3. If you’re stuck in a hallway, cornered in an office or being held hostage in the lunchroom, use a colleague as an exit strategy: “Excuse me, I see Karen. I need to tell her something important, so I’ll see you later.”
4. Stare at the computer screen in front of you and refuse to make eye contact with the chatterbox, or by busy yourself in other ways. Believe Some talkers will continue to blabber, oblivious to the fact that you have work to do. But most will take the hint.
5. Set your Microsoft Outlook, or other calendar program, to chime at certain intervals during the day. This trick makes the chatterbox think that you have an appointment coming up.
6. If you’re unlucky enough to be the supervisor of an office chatterbox, you might have to be more direct. Add up the number of times this person interrupts you or others throughout the day, note the length of each visit and then use this information in a discussion about the person’s behavior. Point out how much time the chatterbox wastes.
7. You might have to take this issue to the boss, but be sure that you have colleagues to back you up. If the boss believes that the chatterbox is disrupting work flow, he is more likely to take corrective action.

Tips & Warnings

• When confronting the office chatterbox, be businesslike and cordial. Losing your cool at work only reflects badly on you.

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