Are you listening?...I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. What?

I have a coworker that doesn't listen...at all...ever...in any sense of the word. For the sake of this posting, lets refer to this person as "Shouty" because the tone of this persons voice far exceeds anything I've ever come in contact with. Shouty yells...doesn't scream, just yells. The closest I can think of that you would be able to relate to is like talking to someone that stood next to a 7' tall speaker during a rock concert. Because they can't hear themselves, they assume you can't hear them either so they yell. With Shouty, you could be answering a question Shouty asked you or talking about something important and work related and Shouty'd interrupt you mid sentence or, my personal favorite, talk loudly over you before you're able to finish your thought. If you ask any normal human being, they might consider this behavior rude. I've realized over the past few months that Shouty is far from any definition of normal.

Now, I don't think Shouty does it to be rude. Shouty does it because she's not listening. Typical example: Shouty'll storm into my office like a tornado, interrupt me while I'm talking on the phone to a resident or to another individual in my office to just ask me a "quick question". (Note: just because it's quick doesn't make the intrusion justified.) I'll begin to answer Shouty's "quick question" and half way thru, Shouty'll interrupt me again and then dart out of my office. 4 minutes later, can you guess who will storm back into my office, ask the same question in a different way, and then dart out again? Oh, that'd be Shouty. (Different question example: Ques #1 - Did you talk to Mrs. Smith today about her cleaning? Ques #2 - Have you had a chance to call Mrs. Smith about her problem? Ques #3 - I was just wondering if any contact between you and Mrs. Smith has transpired between 7:30am today and now? Ques #4 - Hath thou communicated with thine gentle lady Smith to rectify the unpleasantry that hath caused her castle-sized distress? I may have taken that last one too far). This happens anywhere from 5-15 times daily. I've counted that Shouty's asked me the same question over 8 times in a single day. I think a key factor to recognizing insanity is asking the same (or similar, even if you word it differently) question over and over again expecting a different answer. I've gone so far as to snap my fingers at Shouty as she's talking to me while I'm ON THE PHONE with a resident. I realize it's rude to snap at people, but so is storming into a room yelling. I've had to ask residents to repeat themselves because Shouty's talking drowned them out.
You're probably thinking, "This can't be all true. She's obviously over exaggerating. People that obnoxious don't exist anymore." But I say to you, I have witnesses. If you were to ask one of my other dear coworkers who takes just as much of this bologna (had to sing the song to make sure that was spelled right) as I do, if not more, she would be able to confirm all I've stated.

Another part of Shouty's not listening is even more of a pain in the bum than the first example. Shouty will often come to me and ask my opinion on a work situation. This makes sense. Shouty hasn't even been working on the property for a year yet. I have no problem giving my input on certain situations, especially if I'm more familiar with the situation or have dealt with a similar situation prior. 9 out of 10 times, Shouty will do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what my suggestion is. Tried to tell Shouty to lay off someone who was doing a horrible job before their 3 month review so that we didn't need to have all sorts of paperwork and involve HR...Nope. Kept the person who then got injured at work and was all but useless for over 3 months. Shouty asked if I wanted a certain person she introduced me to as my assistant, I said no...hired the person THE NEXT DAY!! I've really tried to refrain from giving my opinion when Shouty asks for it anymore. I mostly just listen now. Shouty'll come roaring in my office, tell me all about her day, all the stuff that has to be done (which doesn't involve me...). On average, Shouty takes up about 2-3 hours a day of my time with useless crap. Whether it's asking me to do a task, taking too long to explain how she'd like it done, then coming back 20 minutes later to let me know she just did it, all the while I was working on it as well or having me work on/fill out/create things that will never be used.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but I'm confident that this is a MAJOR part of why I'm an unhappy stressed out person on a regular basis. I used to be pleasant. My eye didn't use to twitch nearly as often. My throat didn't use to be sore all the time from having to yell just to be heard when someone asked my opinion. When someone would repeat themselves, I used to take it in stride versus now where I take off my shoe and slap them across the face with it (Sorry to most of you that I've done that to...not as sorry to the few that had it coming.)