when someone's irritated by an annoying habit you have

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a friend at work told me on Friday in the pub that a couple of other colleagues he was speaking to said something along the lines of "We like Mark, we think he's a nice guy, but he has this habit that freaks us out of leaning forward when he talks to us and invading our personal space".

I can't remember my verbal reaction to hearing this..I was slightly the worse for wear having been to two leaving dos that day (par for the course at my workplace at the mo) but my thoughts on hearing this were ambivalent to say the least. Part of me thought:

A. This is useful to know. I like these people and out of respect and consideration for them I will make a definite conscious effort to avoid doing this when talking to them in the future.

but part of me thought:

B. Fuck you! If that's what I do, that's what I do! I could go round thinking of ways that I'm irritated by what you do and telling other ppl about it but I don't coz it's trivial and ultimately unhelpful.

do you tend towards A or B in such situations? And do you regard a mixture of A or B to be the most common, perhaps the inevitable reaction when told something like this?

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 10 October 2004 09:22 (twenty-one years ago)

cue ~50 new answers saying "Oh yeah, Mark, they're so right, you *do* do that and it freaks us out too" (possibly).

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 10 October 2004 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I would only think B. I would probably be pretty angry at the friend that told me, as well.

― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 10 October 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the things is, if I do this, I know the reason why I do it. It is simply coz, whilst I'm not deaf, if I'm in a crowded room and there's loads of ppl talking in the background, then I find it hard to hear the person I'm talking to coz the sound kind of merges into one. So I need to lean forward to hear what the other person is saying.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 10 October 2004 11:54 (twenty-one years ago)

intent:
http://www.listen-up.org/kitty/emb/pix/huh1.gif

result:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38905000/jpg/_38905959_headbutt_em300.jpg

― :|, Sunday, 10 October 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i go with option a, usualy. except that i dont change my behavior. im more like "so thats why people are acting funny. good to know." and leave it at that.

― :|, Sunday, 10 October 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I probably tend more towards B, at least in action.

I mean, secretly I'm a neurotic mess who goes home and flogs herself for being such an awful, horrible person. But it's not like I can really be bothered to do anything about it!

― Danger Whore (kate), Sunday, 10 October 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd go with B - especially given that these are people who use phrases like "invading personal space"

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Next time you are talking to these people, lean in real close and say "I do hope I'm not invading your personal space?"...Oh, is that a bit passive/aggresive, I suppose so, but I personally would get a little grain of satisfaction out of it.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, it's a bit sneaky and cowardly to talk to someone else about this instead of giving some kind of clue that they are uncomfortable with it at the time it's happening.

Sod 'em.

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sacredcow.com/hicks/feb_26/bigphoto/dr_death_beach.jpg

― Smokin' funk by the boxes (kenan), Sunday, 10 October 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

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when someone's irritated by an annoying habit you have - your reaction?