Interrupters

I was a little disappointed to find that 'interrupter' is an actual word already. I was hoping to coin the term for, well, those people who can't stop cutting you off, interjecting their opinion, and speaking over you. I guess since the term has been established (unbeknownst to me) society is used to dealing with these interrupters. At work. At school. Friends. Family. Strangers. They are everywhere and once you come in range of an interrupter, they stand out like a sore thumb.

To my misfortune, I was part of a two hour training session at a work with an interrupter. This interrupter was like no other interrupter I've ever encountered. As an attendee for a training session, she sure seemed to think she knew it all. And she told us as much. The whole time. Even the instructor of the session couldn't get a word in edge wise. Hell, if you didn't know any better you'd have thought she was the instructor because of how much she controlled the conversation.

A team member would start replying to an open-ended question thrown out the group and the interrupter would blatantly cut the person off to share what she had to say (seriously). If the instructor spoke about something the interrupter thought she was a pro at dealing with--you guessed it-- she'd interrupt the instructor and would give the class her (cheap) two cents. You have a question for the instructor? Forget about it! The interrupter would talk over you mid-sentence, assume she knew the rest of what you were going to say, and "answer the question". Rude! Disrespectful! Annoying! Time-wasting! 

I learned nothing about what I was supposed to at the meeting. What I did learn, though was about 10 different techniques for how to effectively interrupt people. Honestly, I'm a little in awe of the interrupter. It must take years of practice to hone those kind of skills. What a piece of work! I'm not the only one who has experienced someone like this, am I?