Originally Posted by
bmholmes
It's very hard not to share my knowledge with family and friends, but their eyes do glaze over after a 5-minute "instructional" comment. I realized how boring it is to hear other people talk about their great deals without pause, when we had the misfortune of dining with a couple on an Oceania cruise who dominated all conversation with it.
I don't find it hard to avoid boring people with stories of my wins working the travel programs. I'll mention something briefly, and if a person I'm talking to expresses interest, I'll elaborate. I'll go into a bit greater detail then reassess whether they're still interested. There's no point at which I monopolize the conversation for 5 minutes before looking up to see if they're still paying attention. But when there's mutual interest, I've seen these conversations go 30 minutes or longer a few times.
When I'm the one listening, the biggest bore is listening to people hold forth on their supposed mastery of travel programs who are not even
half as smart as they think they are. "Oh, you bought a time-share for 15% below list price," I'll muse to myself. "How shrewd you must be."
