I am really tactful when I talk to people, I am. I get my message through, no matter what that is, in the softer possible ways. Only when "soft" is not appreciated and it doesn't really work I become more...how should I put it?...sharp.There's the question of being honest in the process and I admit sometimes I'm forced to "veil" it in such a way that my "receptor" shouldn't feel embrassed or worst. I do care a great deal about it, especially when the issues are so small that the whole truth is not really necessary. I spare you the examples, you know what I mean.
Anyway, we have a new colleague who teaches Maths, she's really nice and everything. Actually she is the definition of nice which is a high quality in a colleague. But she talks soooooo much and sooooo loud that my 10 minutes break become harder than the actual class sometimes. I smoke, it's a bad habit, I know, so smokers (teacher who smoke) have a little private room where we can poison ourselves without the knowledge of children etc...She is a smoker too, so we're stuck with her. During our break we have coffee and cigarette and we exchange opinions on different matters or we just chat...but on things that really interest us...or we just make jokes and laugh and relax in between classes....generally, speaking in a moderate tone of voice (since previously we'd have enough of LOUD children's voices).....and sometimes we just keep quiet, cause everyone has something on their minds or just because we don't feel like saying anything nor do we feel forced to make conversation.
I understand that my new colleague can feel the need to be perhaps more talkative than normal because she's new in this school and maybe she feels really nervous about it. I don't know...Or maybe she's just too open that she feels the need to share every single detail of her life with us...Either way, I've come to know a lot of things about her and her boyfriend, her way of living and even though I appreaciate the confidence she's showing me/us I don't really want to know these things, not just yet.
And she always interrupts the speaker...I mean, I hardly have the chance to finish my sentence because she's constantly interrupting me, being so eager to complete what I was going to say...Yesterday she came into our little room where another colleague and I were having coffee, she sat down, I was checking my mobile phone, my colleague was reading something so she just asked: "How come nobody's talking?" I couldn't stand it anymore so I said: "We were waiting for you!" thinking that she'd be aware of the meaning of my exclamation. She didn't seem to. So today, while having a conversation with her about her native town, I said: "I should have known you're from C!". She asked in marvel: "Really? How come?" "Cause you just talk so much!"
And then it happened: she kept silent for 5 whole seconds! It was bliss! Then she apologised, she said she knew she had this problem but that it's just because of her profession. Well excuse me, I'm a teacher too and she's about my age!
Anyway...I felt bad about the whole thing and just needed to write it down, get it off my chest...Whew!
