Sometimes, I feel like people willfully misunderstand me. It’s like they want to pick at me, or make me feel like I’ve somehow made a mistake — just because they didn’t listen to my initial explanation.
I still haven’t figured out why this happens. It doesn’t happen too terribly often — and it usually happens with the same people. I often wonder whether this means that I’m a poor communicator, or whether their willingness to understand things is just …
Look, I don’t think they lack the capacity to understand me. I think they lack the willingness to listen to me.
The best example of this is when I told someone about the show Derry Girls. It was just a one-off statement, like, “There’s this great show on Netflix that I think you’d like!” I realized they weren’t actually listening to me when, about thirty seconds later, they asked me, “What was that show you said you like? Dairy Queens?”
And — yes — this is one of the people who seems to intentionally not listen to the content and the context of what I have to say.
I always pretend like, “Whoops, maybe I should’ve been more clear! Hahahaha!”
But on the inside, I’m rolling my eyes so hard that Bug Out Bob would be impressed by the strength of my ocular reflexes.
Jamais Mayville 