I like to think of myself as having generally good interpersonal skills. I don’t talk too loud or too close. I maintain an appropriate degree of eye contact.I feign interest in what other people are saying in a believable way.
Yet there is one thing I CANNOT seem to get right, and that is ending a conversation. Once I am ready for a conversation to be over, I don’t know how to get out of it. I end up nodding my head and saying stuff like “I hear ya” and “I can’t say I disagree.”
Inside, I’m thinking “This is what it must be like to be taken hostage.”
Sometimes I think the conversation is over and I start to walk away—only to realize that the other person thinks we are in the middle of the conversation. I wonder if I have some kind of clinical disorder that blinds me to the social conventions around disengaging from conversations.
Don't get me wrong. I like talking to people. I just like short conversations.
