Saturday, May 21, 2022

Listening Skills

 

Holly Belle: You'll just never guess what blah, blah, blah...
Natalie: You don't say!
Holly Belle: Not only that, but blah, blah, blah...
Natalie: My goodness.
Holly Belle: And to top it all off blah, blah, blah...
Natalie: Well, isn't that something.

Holly Belle: Pretty surprising, don't you think?
Natalie: You could have knocked me over with a feather!

Holly Belle: I love chatting with Natalie!  She's such a good listener.

Nathan: Don't you find talking with Holly Belle a bit exhausting?
Natalie: Not really.  Of course, I don't actually listen to anything she says.

Natalie: You see, I have a naturally attentive look, like I'm hanging on to 
someone's every word.  It's a gift, really.
Nathan: So that's the secret.
Natalie: I also throw in a few vaguely sympathetic remarks every now and then.

Frederick: Isn't that a little dishonest?
Natalie: I don't know; it seems to make her happy.
And it gives me time to think.
Frederick: Think about what?

Natalie: Cookies.  Let's go find some.

3 comments:

NeverUschi said...

Well I believe we detected the secret of many good listeners out there!

When I was much younger, there was a computer software called Eliza which mimicked a shrink. I even had a go at writing a little program in BASIC to use on my Atari. It couldn't give me attentive looks, and it was very simple really, but baffling. You couldn't talk to it of course but had to type, we are talking Eighties - the software looked for key words, and if it didn't find any it gave a random answer that sounded sympathetic.
It was like talking to a friend... and I felt that psychiatrist maybe sometimes are a little overpaid....
... and perhaps Natalie's second name is Eliza?

Sasha's Vintage Boutique said...

Natalie might be on to something at a young age! I find that really works, too, but it took me a bit longer!

Dee said...

Mm the problem with that is she may be agreeing to something that comes back to bite her on the butt!
And you just know if any of the boys try that it will go pear shaped!