Sorry, not listening

Sometimes I literally have three people talking to me at once, all of them saying different things. That's what happens when you have seven siblings. A lot of voices. All trying to say their own thing.

You know, I like to think I'm good at listening to all three of my younger siblings* at once. I mean, I've had a lot of practice, ya know?  Well, okay, so maybe I'm good at it, and maybe I'm not. But there is one thing I AM good at.

Not listening.

Uh, huh. You know, like the "I'm listening to you, but I'm really not listening to you," kind of deal. Yeah.... Like, I don't even have to try to make it look real!!! Which is bad, because that means I do it all the time, but sometimes I really can't help it! Someone starts talking to me, and I hear, like, the first two words, and it all starts going over my head and I'm thinking of something totally different. And then the person finishes what they are saying, and maybe I catch the last word or two, and I'm like,

Riiiiiiiiight, totally got what you were saying there. Listened to every word.


Nope.

And you know what?! It works! Like, they all think I was giving them such intent attention, and everything. And I wasn't. My mind was elsewhere.

Recently however, my younger sister Rebecca and younger brother Joe both caught me doing this multiple times to them.... I guess I got lazy and didn't make my face look all studied and all that enough..... And they got suspicious and realized that I do that all the time. And they got a little angry, lol.

But I don't do it on purpose!!! It's something that just happens! It's not until the end of the sentence/paragraph/conversation/etc. that I notice I have no idea what's going on. And then I have to quickly analyze what little information I gathered and quickly come up with a good and fitting response that probably will fit the situation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Or there's those times when someone's being really boring, and I'm not really paying a whole lot of attention, so at the end I'm just like,

 So I guess I should work on stopping this. Because this habit is very very rude. Like, VERY rude.

So the next time you try to tell me some story or something, and I'm just like,

Slap me in the face.


Because I didn't hear a word.


Sincerely,

Samantha




*three younger siblings meaning, the three oldest of the youngest four.


Oh, and P.S. Please don't slap me in the face. Because that might hurt.