What do you do when someone tells you the same story over and over?

I slap them silly. ;)

Depends on the who and the what.

I start tossing oyster crackers in their mouth and that shuts them up in no time. Pop rocks work really good too.

I usually just listen and let my mother in law tell it to me again. She has asked me to stop her if she does it because she said her father did it and she hates it, but when I try I can’t get a word in edgewise so I smile and nod and let her talk. I know the day will come when I wish I could hear her tell me those same old stories over and over again.

Start telling them the same stories over and over again.

Grin and bear it, man, grin and bear it…

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Most of the people I know who do this are really old people so I realize that’s the main factor. With younger people even if you reach the point of having a one on one session to point out their repetitiveness, still there is no chance they will stop. Did that quite a few times with a 24 year old schoolmate many years ago and the next day it’s like we did not have the talk. It’s either there could be faulty circuitry in the brain which is not their fault or it could just be plain self-centeredness or a combination of both. Bottomline, my advise is after their first sentence, change the topic quickly by asking a question and keep doing that until he is the one following your lead. Never respond unless it’s a question that will break his momentum. Also,

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Most of the people I know who do this are really old people so I realize that’s the main factor. With younger people even if you reach the point of having a one on one session to point out their repetitiveness, still there is no chance they will stop. Did that quite a few times with a 24 year old schoolmate many years ago and the next day it’s like we did not have the talk. It’s either there could be faulty circuitry in the brain which is not their fault or it could just be plain self-centeredness or a combination of both. Bottomline, my advise is after their first sentence, change the topic quickly by asking a question and keep doing that until he is the one following your lead. Never respond unless it’s a question that will break his momentum. ( lol…sorry just couldn’t resist! )

It depends…if it’s a friend I’ll let them know. If it’s my Mom, who’s getting up in there in years, I just listen…

I wear the expression of a Polish chess player contemplating my next move. You know, the lights are on but nobody’s home look.

@mazinger88; Resist from now on, please.

I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like that who continued to blabber on even after I said ‘yea you told me that’. I’m sorry.

It’s my husband. He will literally, almost verbatim tell me the same story or convey the same information. Yesterday, he told me something about one of his buddies and this morning he told me the same story! I told him, “Oh yeah, you told me that story at lunch! Ha ha!” and he kept right on plowing. Ugh. I wonder if it’s difficult for his brain to shift gears?

Depends. Sometimes I let them tell it again. Sometimes I interrupt and tell them I remember that story and recount it in shorthand, or agree it fits in with the topic at hand an expand on it. Sometimes, especially when it is my father, I tell him, “I know, you told me already,” said in I admit a tone of annoyance. Not very nice I guess. But, he can be so annoying, and will go on and on forever.

I indulge them, it usually isn’t enough to cause a huge ordeal out of.

I’m married. If I tell my wife “you told me already” I’m toast.

So I keep my mouth shut, listen and grunt or nod at the appropriate places.

At work, pretty much do the same thing, though I try to be less responsive…they talk while I continue working. Occasionally I think of something I need to take care of, giving me an excuse to walk away. (This applies to any conversation I’d rather not participate in.)

Wow. The longer I live the more I realize men just tolerate women in many situations.

Depends. If it’s an elderly person, I figure they get some pleasure from telling the tale. Can’t deny ‘em that.
If it’s a friend and I’ve heard it a thousand times, I might interrupt with the ending…
“Yeah, yeah. I remember. And after you dismembered the dead hooker, your chainsaw never worked right again.”

I used to count the times my sister used to tell me the same story. At one point it got so bad. She’d say ‘have I told you…’ & carry on & I would reply ‘this is the 2nd time’, ’...3rd time’ etc. up till the 16th time once. That was the last time she repeated her story – she finally got the message.

@JLeslie The secret to a successful marriage. Before saying ANYTHING, ask myself…

…do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?

If I made a list of the number of irritating things my wife does I could choose to let annoy me, I’d be “pissed to all pisstivity.”

Why bother?

@SABOTEUR I just find it dissappointing that we bother men so much. So to speak.

@JLeslie I know…but you can derive some satisfaction in the knowledge that some men will work…even go to extremes…to get along with the women that they love.

@JLeslie Which is scarier—that men pretend to listen, or that women don’t notice when men pretend to listen? Think about it.

@wundayatta Oh, I listen!
(You never know if there’s gonna be a pop quiz afterward.)

A lot of my older relatives do this, and it’s best just to let them continue. Or if you’re in a hurry. Try to quickly interject something like, “Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that, but we really have to get going, we’ll chat about it again later. Bye Aunt Mollie.”

I’ve had a couple of friends that were like that. One of them always told the same stories about certain landmarks that we would pass on a driving trip. You just couldn’t stop her without hurting her feelings and it really wasn’t hurting me to listen to it again. I knew she enjoyed telling the stories so I just let her. Did it irritate me? Yes. But I never wanted to hurt her feelings, so I just grew more patient.

With a particular co-worker, after putting up with it for years (and not minding as much as other people in our company who would literally walk away when they saw her in the lunch room) I would indulge her with mmm-hmmms and oh’s. But after awhile, her stories started to actually impede on my time. So then I started to say, “Oh my God, Renee! I am so sorry, I forgot that Ron told me to be in his office at 1:00! (while looking frantically at my watch) I better go, but make sure you tell me the rest of what happened after work OK!” I usually didn’t see her after work, because we left at different times, so that helped a little bit, but made her feel like I was still interested.

Sometimes they’re just processing out loud.

That’s the point! (Well said, @Kardamom)

Is the “imposition” of having to listen to someone’s story (for the umpthteenth time) worth potentially hurting their feelings?

If not, deal with it.

It’s simply one of life’s minor inconveniences.

@SABOTEUR @wundayatta I think that could probably be a separate Q, don’t want to deral too much. But, to answer, I think when my husband is pretending I know it. I think? And it feels bad. I also think sometimes women are annoying and dwell too long or worry about unnecessary things, and I understand why men might want to tune out. Lastly, the pop quiz line was very very funny.

I’m not excusing your husband, but men tend to be more analytical than women. We’re often impatient when hearing certain things. We want to know the facts…get to the point…fix it and be done with it.

Women tend to be more emotional. They often work find it necessary to relate (often in minute detail) everything they’re experiencing.

My wife would get terribly upset at my attempts to “edit” her discussion and “fix” her problem. Correction…her repeated problem.

She just wanted me to listen.

Do you understand how hard that is for men when their nature is to resolve the situation, not drag it out.

Then a lot of things we hear (that aren’t problem related) we have no interest in. An “enlightened” man may learn, with difficulty, to put his feelings aside and listen whether he wants to or not.

Some men can’t. They just can’t.

I wonder sometimes how often women take men into consideration when they demand he just listen.

it depends if you like the story or not and who the person is. If they are sensitive, but you hate the story, just try to change the subject. If it’s the complete opposite, I think you can just tell them straight.

Punch ‘em in the throat.

It depends. This annoyed me when I was young and my grandparents and their older relatives told the same stories every year but now that they are all dead and I’m middle aged, I am so glad to have shared their memories and lives if only through those stories.

If it’s someone like my mother who tells me the same story every few days for a couple of weeks then I laughingly remind her she’s losing her marbles.

I look away and hold up a number of fingers equal to the number of times the story has been told. At this point, if it’s only the second or third time, they ask me what’s going on.

I let them know.

Interrupt them and finish it for them!

I just end their sentences, if its the same over and over again they usually tell it the same.