The Center of Attention

The Centre of Attention

My father has this great need to be at the centre of attention. Every conversation must be around him and he must be the one talking the most. Did you start telling a tale about how your car broke down and you had to spend hours waiting for the tow truck? This is his perfect opportunity to chime in about how he never had to wait because he would have fixed it, or started grilling you about the issue and how easy it was to avoid or fix.

What if he can't contribute

You made the mistake of talking about something new to him? Well, he will try his best to divert it back to his area of expertise. Are you talking about your day to day job as a software developer? Well, not any more because now he is talking about how he was the first person to introduce the computer to his country. What? you are still trying to talk about moderm day issues? He chimes in: it's all the same and nothing changed since his days in the fray.

No active listening

All your words mean nothing to him. They exists so he can take a break and relax a bit before he dives in the next topic. He gains nothing from talking to you but insists on contributing the most.

How it ends

He gets tired after a bit so out comes the phone. He will put on his earphones and goes to his socials. After a bit he will declare that he is getting tired and must lie down. I have to cut everything short at this point.