Can't escape my one sided conversational coworker

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Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone could help me here, or has had a similar experience.

Last post I did on here was about my crazy boss, if anyone remembers. I've changed departments but now I share an office with someone not mean or crazy, but will not stop talking about herself. In our office there's just us, occasionally our boss or some of the other depot guys come in, but we have lunch and all tea breaks together, and all she ever wants to do is talk, and all she ever wants to talk about is herself. She has the ability to swing the most mundane conversation to be about her house, family, or pets, and when she's on a roll she can talk for literally an hour. When I'm in the plant it's fine but I often dread going back to the office for lunch or to write emails.

An example of how she does it is someone came in today to fix the heater. She spent the next hour or so talking about what heater she has in her house, how it works, what her husband thinks of it, what sort of heater her daughter has, how her neighbor's heater is different, where she got it from etc. I had to call a supplier but in our tiny office with her talking it was too loud, but I couldn't go anywhere else because the plant's too noisy so I had to send an email to them...difficult when they were taking the whole time. She also starts up about something (e.g. if you say, oh, someone's sent an email about the road conditions, the one sided conversation goes: how the conditions were when she left> when her husband left> how her car handled> what sort of car she got and when she got it>what car her daughter has>how her daughter's getting tinted windows on the weekend>how the windows have to be tinted because her daughter's son doesn't like heat>how her son does....blah blah blah.

I like her and she's well-meaning, but it's frustrating because she doesn't care about anything I've got to say, and she turns the conversation around to be about her anyway. It's draining when I'm in the office with her to try to stay switched on when she's talking about her husband and I want to do my work. She always tells me about how 'once you have kids..' 'when you have kids..' 'once you're a mother' 'you'll know when you have kids' and I don't have any intentions of having kids soon, plus I'm single anyway. The next time I hear about how her dog makes a certain face at her when she's cooking lasagne for her and her husband, who is really annoyed because he got up and couldn't find his favourite T-shirt, which she ironed on Sunday, before taking her grandson to the pool, where he cried because he didn't want to leave the pool, so her daughter had to come and pick him up, in her VS Commodore, with tinted windows I'm going to scream!! !! !

Two thoughts.

Politely interrupt to conduct work, like say you 'have to finish this email'. She might, and its only a 'might' start to get the idea after a few dozen times. You do want to try and avoid hurting her feelings though.

Try and learn to tune her out, like you get used to certain sounds and don't notice them anymore (ie. planes, trains). If she calls you on not listening, explain that you are worried about not getting such and such a piece of work done.

It could be worse with a mean co-worker.

I know the kind--she could spend thirty minutes talking to somebody before realizing that person doesn't speak English. I would say just avoid her whenever possible while trying not to be rude about it. The good employee is one who solves problems without causing them.

I have a similar coworker, in fact she is sitting behind me right now talking....

I find it best to just ignore her and continue my work. Every so often I will pay attention to a sentence or two so that I can interject some response to make it seem like I care and have been listening the whole time. However people like this rarely seem to notice or take others into account, so she will likely not even realize that you aren't listening. This coworker loves to tell the same stories over and over again, always about her. Her cubicle is also filled with pictures of herself, and her desktop image is...herself. Not even with other people, just her....

It is very strange to me, but oh well. I just continue my work. Her voice is one more thing to manage/try to ignore, like the cold air currently blowing on my arms or the distant sound of the elevator moving.

Coworkers are hard to avoid, especially in such a small office. This is some useful advice though. I was going to say look at your watch while she's talking to you, but this is much more polite! Just try to remember how miserable you were with an abusive boss to help put it into perspective.

Thanks for the help guys. It could be (and was!) a lot worse, she's friendly most of the time, I was just at the end of it when I posted this post because I had a whole shift of her going on and on. We are in a small office together but the office is in a refinery so I could just go and keep busy out there (where I have to wear ear muffs!)

She sounds rather strange...a lot stranger than mine, pictures of herself!! !?

Mine tells the same stories again and again too but about her husband, three kids, grandson, dog and one set of neighbors. Sometimes she'll talk about her parents, or the various people in her town (she lives in a small isolated town in whoop whoop and so do I, different towns thankfully) but not as much as the others. I feel like I could move in with her family and know everything about everyone. Scary thing is that I know one of her daughters and her husband, so whenever I meet them I get this strange feeling that I know what they did last night or last week...

I also drift off half way through occasionally interjecting a few words, not because I pretend I care, but because I literally go off to day dream land and wake up and don't know what she's talking about.

I know it can seem like a milder concentric level of Dante's hell, but have to say you have a humorous way of describing it. Perhaps humor is the best way to survive it.

At any rate it brought to mind a somewhat twisted idea. Next time she is droning on about herself, take on a dreamy, removed appearence and interrupt to tell her that she has a fascinating life and you really enjoy learning all about it. Say you wish your life was half as interesting. And tell her that you have come to know all the people in her life so well, that, God forbid anything should happen to her, you feel like you could almost just step in and assume the role. Then seem to snap out of it and laugh saying 'Isn't that a silly thought!' Finally, ask her a favor that requires her to visit the most danergous part of the plant.