I'm not up to debating ...

[LaStrega]

There's a woman with whom I work who is a conservative. I'm not sure if she's a Republican, but whenever I'm speaking with my buddy Lance (a staunch liberal) about Bush and Iraq or some such, she always inserts her own opinions, usually as a chide, concerning mine and Lance's conversation. Most recently, Lance was referencing a show on PBS ... which was addressing the RNC suppression of votes in five states. She interjected "I'm sure the Democrats did that too." Lance rolled his eyes, as 1) it was a conversation between him and me and 2) she often interjects into our conversations, and always to the support of Mr Bush/the "war" (read as "occupation").

We always ignore her.

I think I, personally, ignore her due to having been married to a man with whom I disagreed *entirely* upon all things politics. I've no desire to draw her into a debate about that which I know she will not change my mind, nor most likely will I change hers. It's work. Get in. Do it. Go home.

I wonder if I'd react differently if we knew not one another, and she decided to interject, in say a coffee shop or tavern.

The fact is, when I'm in a coffee shop or tavern, I've not encountered people who have the nerve to interject thusly.

Should I enter into the debate? Does she feel she *wins* by mine and Lance's nonresponse to her rude interjection?

Meh. Why should I care? But I do care. And it bugs the shit outta me.

[insane_cratic_gal]

1. A simple

"Its rude to put ones nose into a conversation when not invited" May be a simple, yet effective way to shut her up without pulling out the political cards.

Personally, It would take a great deal of inner strength to not crush her little fantasy, but I admire you for holding out for so long.

[cynatnite]

2. Two choices...

Either slap her down with facts. Maybe she'll go away and not do it again. The second as the previous poster said...to let her know that interrupting a conversation not involving her is rude. This one has the better chance, IMO. It sends the message quickly and reminds of her common courtesy.

[Sherman A1]

3. I know what you mean

I have my debates at work as well. Some with like minded and some with those who have differing views. Luckily we pretty much respect each other's discussions and stay out of conversations univited. That said I would just call her on it politely and set up a time where you two could "exchange your thoughts". She might be a nice person (albeit somewhat rude) and would like to get into the conversations with you. Even the staunchest social conservative I deal with at work, with whom I will never agree has good manners and will not interrupt, nor would I him. The advantage I have is that he comes in delivers the Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies then leaves and goes onto his next stop, so time is limited.


Great Flicker photos BTW wish I had the photoraphers eye that you do!


:hi:

[cynatnite]

4. I was doing some temp work at an office a few years ago...

This one transcriptionist walked around the office to each of the girls (except me :)) and discussed how disrespectful it was to bush for the dems to not have stood or clapped when the other repukes were during his SOTU speech. I had to bite my tongue and it really hurt.

[Sherman A1]

6. I guess it was the first time

she ever watched the SOTU? Gosh politics can be such a dirty, rough and tumble sport. Oh, well.... hope you recovered from your injury of biting your tongue. I know I would have had a tough time as well.

My great advantage at work is that it's pretty much "my world" in which everyone comes to see me (I'm a grocery store
receiver so the drivers have to come to me, the stock workers don't directly report to me, but while in the backroom are in my world) so I hold some sway over decorum and I use it when necessary. Everyone is entitled to their opinions (about sports, politics, the weather, etc) but in a respectful and civil manner. :thumbsup:

[EST]

5. You may, I think, consider her nosy interjection as a plea for inclusion

and an invitation to "prove it to me. You liberals are all about inclusion and caring about others; show me." Could be your real chance to live up to the values you claim to operate by and find a way to show her-gently and kindly-that the automatic assumption that democrats already do the same bad crap she's fixing to pull so it's ok to do it back is a faulty way of approaching reality.

Or it could be she's just a nosy f'king republican bitch who goes around spreading a thick layer of her dark brown bullshit on everybody who will listen-because she's absolutely convinced of her fundamental rightness and Dudley Doright righteousness. So it's ok to just blow off her useless ass immediately and then run after her and urinate down the back of her dress.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Off topic

Did you intentionally put a line through Meh. Why should I care............ or was it an accident. If it was intentional how did you do it ? That happened to me on a whole paragraph in post a week or so back and I'm still trying to figure what caused it. I've noticed some others do it obviously by intention. I'm just curious.

[Make7]

8. That appears to have been unintentional.

Edited to fix grammar

At the end of her post she wrote:

Should I enter into the debate? Does she feel she *wins* by mine and Lance's nonresponse to her rude interjection[s]?

Meh. Why should I care? But I do care. And it bugs the shit outta me.

The [s] is interpreted by the DCScripts/DU software as the HTML strike-through text command. Notice that the [s] has disappeared and the question mark has a line through it in the opening post. The simple fix: interjection(s).

Sometimes when people quote from a source that uses square brackets, unusual things happen to their posts. Most often the text within the square brackets simply disappears, but if the first letter is a valid HTML code such as i, b, or s, the forum software thinks it is an italic, bold, or strike-through command.

For a good example of this happening to someone, see this thread. I also explain this issue over there and repost the "fixed" opening post.

Basically the easy way to avoid this is to replace square brackets with parentheses. The search and replace function of WordPad can be utilized to fix quoted material that uses []'s extensively.

- Make7

[dipsydoodle]

9. Thank you so much.

Another of life's great mysteries solved.............lol.

[zippy890]

10. thanks for the detailed explanation on that

on of those things I've wondered about.