The Over-talker

We’ve all met the over-talker, someone who in the midst of conversation will talk over - and take over - the conversation of others to assert his or her point of view. They do this loudly, do not stop, and don’t want to be stopped. They’re either rude or needy of everyone’s immediate attention. In my opinion it's a 2-choice solution: either give them that attention OR, depending on the context of the conversation, interrupt and tell them to wait their turn if what you’re listening to or were saying was important enough to warrant that feedback. I admit I’ve been an over-talker on occasion and am not proud of the fact. I try to recognize it when I do it, stop and take the time to think about why I’m doing it. No one has ever put me in my place but I wince when I do it because it is just plain wrong (unless there's some kind of urgency to a situation but that's rare) in a conversational context.