Work embarassment - caught rehearsing conversation

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Okay, so this happened to me yesterday at work, was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

I was diagnosed with mild AS last summer. One thing I've done for years (but didn't know why until recently, I guess it' a subconscious coping mechanism) is, if I know I'll be having a conversation with someone later, I'll often rehearse what I'm going to say many times so that it sounds "natural". I know my mode of speech, especially when under stress, can be a bit weird (way too fast, tightly controlled tangents, and I forget to make a point of making eye contact if I'm speaking very extemporaneously), so if I've worked out what I'm going to say and how it sounds it's not as off-putting. Anyway, a situation at work came up (far too boring and involving too much setup to detail here) which I needed to discuss with one of my managers and I was playing it over in my mind, trying to find le mot juste, as it were. The woman who sits at the desk across from mine looked at me strangely and said "You know, you're talking to yourself." I was very embarassed and had to explain why I was rehearsing. She knows about my diagnosis...very few of my co-workers do, just the ones I work with most closely; management doesn't, but I'm very highly regarded by them partly for the behaviours I suspect are AS-related like my meticulous attention to detail and near-obsessive follow-up to resolve situations. Anyway, now I'm even more self-conscious, and can't help but wonder how much of my "rehearsing" I've been doing out loud where people can hear me.

So...is this common? Do other people do this and what happens when people catch you doing it? Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.

Oh dear, that sounds embarrassing but I'm sure it will blow over. Does this rehearsing actually work though? I go through future situations in my head but they never seem to be the same when I actually get into those situations in real life.

That is the same with me, things go different to the way I plan them.

I do the same, but not aloud. Plus I always write down what I want to say on the telephone in case I get nervous and forget it. Just yesterday I called my god father and had to write down wishes for him. Calling on the phone is a struggle for me.

I too am in the habit of rehearsing conversations and I also have to talk to myself in order to direct and focus my thoughts....

I usually practice conversations in my head, but things never go as I imagine them.

Don't worry, those people will get over it.

Another self talker here. I once accidentally blurted out 'shut the f**k up' to someone in a supermarket while talking to the air...He was understanding about it, though

I recently moved into an apartment in which the fan vent over my stove is like a direct intercom to the unit above me. I discovered this when, standing at my stove preparing dinner and muttering to myself one evening I heard the neighbors make a particularly loud and annoying bit of noise and said aloud to myself "Gods, I wish those morons would move." Within seconds they were holding their 9 year old boy up to the vent and encouraging him to yell gibberish and insults down the vent. Since then they've become progressively more obnoxious and thoughtlessly loud. I hadn't even realized I'd been speaking aloud until they reacted to what I'd said.

If the woman at work tells you that you're talking to yourself again, tell her "No, I'm talking to someone else, they just aren't here yet."

Or that you're communing with the demon that lives in your brain.

I don't talk out load to myself too much, but either my lips move when I'm rehearsing mentally or sometimes I mumble softly. I'm not embarrassed about it anymore because I do it a lot.
Willard, maybe you should get a radio to play in the kitchen, you could bounce between Mega-Death Metal and Henry Mancini Easy listening music

You know, It's so good for me to be part of this discussion group. Not just because it helps me 'see' my daughter better, but because I find so many people doing things I've always done. I rehearse conversations all the time. Particularly conversations I know will be difficult. It is such a relief to know I'm not the only person who rehearses conversations. I know this doesn't help you but thanks!

LOL, that said, I have learned over time to only rehearse in private. I don't talk to myself at work, even when i'm in a private place...though at those times I'll sometimes rehearse in my head. Since it seems to help me more to 'hear' myself, I will frequently rehearse in the car on the way to or from work...or in my room late at night.

As an observer of pretty much Everything this is one of those things that tickles me.. People rehearse important conversations either under their breath, in their head or in private, a great example of this a general behaviour in People is the nervous NT about to ask someone out on a date..

Everyone does it, but no one wants to admit to doing so for fear of seeming nuts, NTs can "grow" out of it with lots of life experience but, they do have the advantage of innate social skills, ALOT still do it though if its a big important conversation and some who do it will "point" at others they catch doing it, as a "diversionary tactic".

seriously no need to fret, if you get quizzed on doing it, just ask them if they've ever planned out a discussion it when asking someone out or such like, that lil moment of "umm" silence you'll probably get.. means "yes".

Do try to watch it round strangers though walking down the street talking "to yourself" is a good way to be visited by the men with white labcoats and big needles (joke).

and umm yes, try to watch what you say, I can think of a few NT's i know who have been caught "rehearsing" their "sensitive" breaking-up-nicely-with-my-SO conversation... by said SO.