When someone asks "What?" as if they didn't hear you or think they've misunderstood, especially at the start of the conversation, give them an extra few seconds to start a proper response before repeating yourself. I find about half the time it's an instinctive filler reaction to indicate they are paying attention and stall for more time, avoiding the awkward scenario of pausing silently, not a genuine question. Repeating whatever I said will overlap with their inevitable response, or make things worse because they then have to double check whatever they were still processing with the repeat.
Best case, they get the time they need to catchup and the conversation proceeds smoothly from there. Neutral case, they are actually waiting for you to repeat yourself and you've lost a few seconds. Worst case, they didn't need a repeat but are now stuck waiting for you to finish, losing the length of the entire explanation.
You can get higher accuracy by paying attention to if they look like they're waiting for you or thinking, but not all conversation is that straightforward. I opt to take the cautious path. It's rarely a bad thing to give people more time to think in a conversation anyway.
- Rew
Nightly Notes
Been a while since I wrote about dealing with other people. It still scares me.
- Rew