Listening skills...does anyone have them any more???

[30ABandMan]

Ya know, I may just be jaded because in a former life/career my job and other people's safety depended on my listening skills. I don't know if it is just because it is the end of the school year or what but I AM SICK of having to repeat myself!!! Have any of you noticed that you can't go anywhere like a restaurant or other public serving place and not have to repeat yourself multiple times? And how often do they mess your order up anyway?

I am amazed at how carelessly people perform their jobs.

Rant off...
Thanks for listening...

Now, I can eat my ill prepared yet clearly ordered pizza.

p.s. Domino's on HWY 84 in Dothan sux.

 

[Miss Critter]

I'm sorry, did you say something? Let me remove these earbuds. Maybe you could send me a text??? ;-)

 

[DD]

God luv ya, 30ABM. I can so relate. In fact, I think it's one of my pet peeves (search pet peeves threads). In fact, it's probably time for another volume of pet peeves, but I'm trying to be more upbeat these days.
Anyway, yes, I find myself repeating myself time and time again--generally to no avail. :angry:

 

[30ABandMan]

As my father in law used to say...Ya know why they don't send donkeys to school? Because no one likes a smart @ss hahaha!!!

 

[Lynnie]

Y'all, I don't know if this related or not but I have a GF who talks nonstop! I was on the phone one day gossipping and was asked how GF was.

"If she ain't talkin' she ain't listening." Everyone knew exactly what I was talking about.

 

[DD]

Y'all, I don't know if this related or not but I have a GF who talks nonstop! I was on the phone one day gossipping and was asked how GF was.

"If she ain't talkin' she ain't listening." Everyone knew exactly what I was talking about.

 

[NoHall]

I'm not ignoring you--I just can't understand you!

I have a hard time with people who can't SPEAK. I have Clark Kent-type super hearing--I can hear a bird fart in the next county. It makes it hard for me to filter out background noise from the person who is standing in front of me talking.

So I thought it was just me. I started turning the captions on during movies a few years ago, and now I use them to just watch t.v. I figured it was my funky hearing.

But when I show a movie at school (as a legitimate part of the curriculum!) the boys will tell me to turn it on, too. People talk too fast, they mumble, they slur, they don't articulate.

I HATE phone conversations--It's impossible to understand! Every other sentence on my end is, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," "Can you repeat that?" or "Huh?"

Arrrrrrrgh!

 

[Carol G]

I have a hard time with people who can't SPEAK. I have Clark Kent-type super hearing--I can hear a bird fart in the next county. It makes it hard for me to filter out background noise from the person who is standing in front of me talking.

So I thought it was just me. I started turning the captions on during movies a few years ago, and now I use them to just watch t.v. I figured it was my funky hearing.

But when I show a movie at school (as a legitimate part of the curriculum!) the boys will tell me to turn it on, too. People talk too fast, they mumble, they slur, they don't articulate.

I HATE phone conversations--It's impossible to understand! Every other sentence on my end is, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," "Can you repeat that?" or "Huh?"

Arrrrrrrgh!

I am so right there with you on this... It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, because I knew I wasn't losing my hearing, I could hear EVERYTHING! But if there is background noise, especially something repetitive or droning, I cannot distinguish words unless a person very clearly enunciates, and even then sometimes it is a problem. This can happen even with an air conditioning hum or traffic noises, or especially phone static/noises. Sometimes I just give up and pretend I've heard whatever the person is saying out of embarrassment or frustration. I believe it's a neurological issue personally, not necessarily a "hearing" problem. I turned the captions on during tv & movies a few months ago, and I'll never go back, it makes such a difference!

Anyway, I don't mean to derail the thread, and I'm not excusing poor service... I think losing our ability to truly focus is a consequence of all of the digital visual/aural/intellectual stimulation we are now constantly exposed to, with texting and chatting and IM'ing and googling and TV and video games and phones and near constant processing of multitudes of information. I posted an article a while ago on that *other* website that deals with faces and books about the phenomenon of people remarking that they are losing the ability to read books, because they cannot focus their concentration long enough to finish it. Interesting stuff.

 

[NoHall]

I am so right there with you on this... It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, because I knew I wasn't losing my hearing, I could hear EVERYTHING! But if there is background noise, especially something repetitive or droning, I cannot distinguish words unless a person very clearly enunciates, and even then sometimes it is a problem. This can happen even with an air conditioning hum or traffic noises, or especially phone static/noises. Sometimes I just give up and pretend I've heard whatever the person is saying out of embarrassment or frustration. I believe it's a neurological issue personally, not necessarily a "hearing" problem. I turned the captions on during tv & movies a few months ago, and I'll never go back, it makes such a difference!

I don't think it's neurological with me. There is a hearing condition, whose name I can't remember--a friend of mine's father has it so bad that he literally can't stand to be in public. Silverware on a plate causes him physical pain.

I don't think we were meant to have so much background noise. A few years ago I went with some friends to a place in the mountains. We were out in the middle of a cemetery surrounded by national park land late at night. I was blown away--it was the first time in many, many years that I recall ever being in complete silence.

Anyway, I don't mean to derail the thread, and I'm not excusing poor service... I think losing our ability to truly focus is a consequence of all of the digital visual/aural/intellectual stimulation we are now constantly exposed to, with texting and chatting and IM'ing and googling and TV and video games and phones and near constant processing of multitudes of information. I posted an article a while ago on that *other* website that deals with faces and books about the phenomenon of people remarking that they are losing the ability to read books, because they cannot focus their concentration long enough to finish it. Interesting stuff.

I didn't mean to derail it either, but I think that there is something to speaking clearly, making and maintaining eye contact with the person you are addressing, etc. (And I'm not accusing 30ABandman of being a poor speaker--he probably knows this.)

 

[Miss Kitty]

I am waiting for a cell phone with subtitles. I HATE talking on the cell phone. I have a few friends that I cannot for the life of me catch what they are saying on the jailcell phone.