Do you ever pretend you've heard somebody when in actual fact you haven't?

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I do this all the time with my boss. She sits about ten foot away from me and regularly interrupts what I'm doing with long winded 'funny' stories. I hear the start of what she's saying and nod along encouragingly, but she fades in and out dependant on the other noise in the office and I find myself just giggling away at the end of her tale despite not knowing what she said.

Three years down the line and I'm still doing it. Shaking my head and going "No way! ha ha ha ha!!!"

I sometimes feel bad but I think it's for the best. I've tried saying "What? Pardon? I can't hear you," but this just pisses her off.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

I'm deaf in one ear. I have to do this all the time.

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

I used to work with a guy who would mumble wisecracks to me in meetings. I would just grin and nod because "I have no fucking idea what you're saying. Speak up." It was easier to pretend to hear than to pretend to care (i.e. ask to repeat.)

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the required response is always the same. Her stories always make her cry with laughter, even if the office is quiet the tail end of her story is often garbled in her own hilarity.

I've been known to shed a tear of my own to show I appreciate just how hilarious her story is.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

i do this a lot.

― the people are such untight s wads (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

usually i ask the person to repeat what they've said, and then i feel embarassed because i couldn't understand them on the second go-round.

― the people are such untight s wads (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Often by the time I ask them to repeat themselves, I have figured out through context what they said in the first place. :-/

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

When someone has to repeat themselves for the second, third, fourth time it starts to get ridiculous. I think I strain too hard to hear them the second time and miss it again.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

I'm deaf in one ear. I have to do this all the time.

I try to position myself so my "good ear" is nearest the speaker - but, after a few beers, I often forget what ear is my good ear

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

I try to do this Kate but it rarely works for me.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

i do this all the time. i usually get away with it, but i fail surprisingly often because i nod and smile and find out that actually, someone was asking me a question that doesn't have a yes no answer.

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

I don't always have that ability, Dada. If I'm first at the table/pub, I will try to position myself so that my good ear faces the room, but unless you're in a corner, it's hard.

I'm lucky in that the talkative colleagues are all to my bad ear, so I can ignore them when they babble!

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

i pretend to laugh at my oracle database engineers 'technical' jargon jokes. right over my head.

but there's a guy behind me who annoyingly all the time asks someone "what?" well before they've finished what they're saying, sometimes after they've only said like two words.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

I do this with my grand most of the time. When I don't, I usually want to kill her. It makes our relationship manageable.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

I've almost been caught out before when somebody else has noticed our hysteria and asked what's so funny. The boss then looks to me to tell them and I have to say "No - you tell it better," or pretend to be too convulsed with laughter to repeat it.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

Argh, see that's why I never get too emotionally engaged with things I can't hear. I tend to just nod and smile.

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

but there's a guy behind me who annoyingly all the time asks someone "what?" well before they've finished what they're saying,

I used to work in a place where I dealt with the public a lot, and people would do this to me all the time - except it was "huh?" instaed of "what?" But I used to compare notes with other people of how stupid people would say huh? -not because they couldn't hear but because they weren't paying attention. But (long story short) there were a few times that people would say "huh?" in anticipation before I even started talking.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Haha god yeah I do that with the telly. I will laugh at something for some reason even if I didnt catch it (kneejerk reaction maybe?) then if someone else says "what did they say?" I look like a dork.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

My face aches constantly from having to laugh so much. I'm caught in a vicious circle of my own making. My boss got a huge belly laugh from her first tale so now she looks to me as an appreciative audience for all of them.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

all the time, I was just noticing yesterday how I keep doing it, even though i believe i probably shouldnt. I usually do this though when background noise is very heavy and I cant stand yelling WHAT? at the top of my lungs.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

do you ever overanalyze every single thing that happens in ur life

― comment, Friday, 16 December 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

That's utter bollocks.

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

Argh, sorry, wrong thread!

― Kate Classic (kate), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

do you ever overanalyze every single thing that happens in ur life

Do you ever make snide remarks to the good of no-one?

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

do you ever overanalyze every single thing that happens in ur life

suck my balls

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

do you ever overanalyze every single thing that happens in ur life
Do you ever make snide remarks to the good of no-one?

-- Rumpie (rumpu...), December 16th, 2005.

cuz we all know no one on ilx has ever done that before

― in ur life, Friday, 16 December 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

There's no need for it.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

I do this fairly often. Or someone will start telling me something and I'll realize halfway through that I missed some key context at the beginning and I have no idea what they're talking about. I wonder if this means my hearing is getting worse or if it's just lack of attentiveness.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

I do this all the time.

― 31g (31g), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

i actually do this on rumpie threads

― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)

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