Drop Everything

These days, with so many of us working in office cubicles and having a multitude of projects and “urgent” issues to address, I’ve noticed that we’re constantly interrupting each other less politely than we did in the past. There are times when I’m concentrating on my work, and someone will walk up to my cubicle and just start talking or asking questions without checking first to see if it’s ok to interrupt me. I sometimes do the same to other people, and I’m afraid it’s just become the norm. What ever happened to asking, “Do you have a minute?” or “I have a question. Is this a good time for you?” It’s too bad, because we often waste time trying to regain our concentration, and it’s difficult to complete a complex project when our time is chopped into so many small chunks. (Of course, this is also due to business meetings, telephone calls, and our own shifts in attention span in a typical day, and that’s not likely to change.) Conversational styles have shifted as well, and we are so much more likely to interrupt other people in a group (sometimes rudely) rather than wait for an appropriate pause in the conversation. For those of us who need a little extra time to compose our thoughts or who really enjoy crafting our words, it can be frustrating.