Science has destroyed my tolerance for other people talking. Or, more precisely: vague blathering.
In ordinary scientific interactions in my field, one must provide evidence and explanation, clearly and concisely, within five minutes. Or else no-one will listen. We're too busy to pretend to care.
As a result, my colleagues are quite good at brevity. (Plus no-one is listening in lab meeting anyways, so why not be brief?) Alas, a recent seminar reminded me that in the real world, people do tend to waffle on. And on and on. And on. I want to smack them: Get to the point already! Shut up, you're wasting my TIME!
I don't mind listening to informative and effective speech. I don't mind meetings where no time is wasted. I don't mind hearing others' ideas.
But I foresee problems in the working world. Business meetings? Torture.
