Good method for dealing with ppl who ask for something then keep you from doing it?

In My Humble Opinion
1

There is one thing that sometimes drives me up the wall (and the person dealing with me also is not satisfied.)

Is there a way you have found to deal better with the following situations than I do? My main problem is that there seems to be no socially acceptable way to make people shut up while I am doing what they want me to do, without offending them and without getting in a metadiscussion on whether they need to shut up.

Situation 1

1.1 How it should work

colleague: Hello tschild, would this circuit work with the configuration of $plant?
me: Wait a moment. <looks up plant configuration, traces circuit, mentally cross-referencing with terminal list> Yes, that should work.
colleague: Thanks.

1.2 How it does work

colleague: Hello tschild, would this circuit work with the configuration of $plant?
me: Wait a moment. <looks up … - stops to listen to colleague>
colleague: talk talk talk…
me: I’m sorry, I cannot check this right now. Will have it on your desk tomorrow morning.
colleague: <walks away, grumbling>
1.3 How I sometimes fantasize it might work

colleague: Hello tschild, would this circuit work with the configuration of $plant?
me: Wait a moment. <looks up … - stops to listen to colleague>
colleague: talk ta…
me: Shut. Up. Immediately. Or. I. Will. Throttle. You.
me: <looks up plant configuration, traces circuit, mentally cross-referencing with terminal list> Yes, that should work. You may talk again.
colleague: Thanks.

**
Situation 2**

2.1 How it should work

customer: Hello tschild, I am calling from $plant. I keep getting $errormessage. What do I do?
me: Wait a moment. <looks up plant configuration, plant software configuration, looks up software documentation, mentally cross-referencing with plant configuration> You’ll have to repolarize the warp coils, then reboot.
customer: Thanks.

2.2 How it does work

customer: Hello tschild, I am calling from $plant. I keep getting $errormessage. What do I do?
me: Wait a moment. <looks up plant confi… - stops to listen to customer talking>
customer: talk talk talk…
me: <click>
me: <looks up plant configuration, plant software configuration, looks up software documentation, mentally cross-referencing with plant configuration>
customer: Hello tschild, I got cut off suddently
me: You’re calling from a mobile phone, don’t you? Must be bad reception. Anyway, re your problem: You’ll have to repolarize the warp coils, then reboot.
customer: Thanks.

2

From your title I was thinking the OP would be all sorts of interesting passive agressive intrigue, but people talking to you while you’re trying to concentrate is all?

How about when they ask, you say, “It’ll take me a few minutes to get the information you need. I’ll look it up and send you an email / drop by your office / call you right back.” This sort of dismisses them so you can do what you need to do without them interrupting, without being rude about it.

3

I get it all the time from my sister, and have never found a way to shut her up.
Sis: What do you think of Charles?
Me: He’s…
Sis: You know, the guy from that place
Me: Yes, Charles Blotz. He’s…
Sis: From the store by the diner?
Me: Yes, Charles Blotz from the Olde Garden Shoppe by the diner. He’s…
Sis: The Ramalama Diner
Me: Yes! He’s…
Sis: Do you think he’s, you know…
Me: Do I think he’s what?
:
:

4

I get it all the time from my sister, and have never found a way to shut her up.
Sis: What do you think of Charles?
Me: He’s…
Sis: You know, the guy from that place
Me: Yes, Charles Blotz. He’s…
Sis: From the store by the diner?
Me: Yes, Charles Blotz from the Olde Garden Shoppe by the diner. He’s…
Sis: The Ramalama Diner
Me: Yes! He’s…
Sis: Do you think he’s, you know…
Me: Do I think he’s what?
:
:

5

When I call tech support they often say, “I’ll need to put you on hold for a couple of minutes while I check into your situation.” It appears that sometimes they just mute their end vice really dumping me into true hold.

But in either case, a new social contract has been established. I know the tech is doing something, and I know that talking is useless, so I don’t do it. Meanwhile, the tech is getting the problem solved w/o interruption.

Conversely, people will not sit on a live line listening to keystrokes & breathing. “Dead air” just sounds too empty to be emotionally comfortable, so they’ll start to babble.
The real key from the tech’s POV is to understand that although the customer is in charge of the problem, YOU are in charge of the call. You have to lead through skill, not brute force, but you can, and should, be the leader of the call.

6

I’m with LSL Guy. Can’t you just put them on hold while you look up their problem? I’m really not seeing the drama here.

As for colleagues, just tell them you’ll get it to them as soon as you can. My boss used to come to my desk, ask me for find or do something that will take a few minutes to find or do, and then just stand there. He doesn’t do that anymore, because I told him “I can’t do this with you hovering over me, it makes me twitchy. I’ll find/do it and bring it to you.”

7

My boss does this all the time. The best way to deal with it that I’ve found is to be direct, and treat all requests for work/information the same. Whether someone is on the phone, right in front of me, or asking for something by email I respond to let them know I’ve received the request, and let them know when they can expect to have it back from me.

“No problem, Sally. I’ll bring that over to your office when I’ve got it. Should be just a few minutes.”
“Ok Jim, can it wait til this afternoon? I won’t be able to get to it now but I’ll email it to you when I’m done.”

Although my boss can be a bit irrational at times, even when I give him this kind of estimate. He will call in and give me something to do, then ask to be transferred to speak to someone else. After speaking with the other person for literally no longer than two minutes, he’ll ask to be transferred back to me and then ask if the request he made two minutes ago is done. In that case I smile sweetly and say, “No, but you’ll get a call from me the moment it’s done.”

Also, when I request something from other people I make sure to check to see when I can expect a reply, that way I’m not bothering them needlessly to ask for status or hovering and distracting them while I wait.

8

I’m currently transcribing interviews for a university researcher who is, well, a moron. More to the point, she is a morom who thinks everybody else is a moron, and she talks down to people. What should be a simple, short question comes out as a paragraph, because she asks the question about five times, differently worded each time because she thinks that will make the interviewee better understand. And she finishes each sentence with a certain vocal intonation and a pause that to normal people signifies ‘I’ve finished speaking, your turn’, and then starts speaking again at the precise moment the interviewee does, so I get a recording with a whole bunch of crosstalk I have to decipher, and I end up looking like a bad transcriptionist because my finished document is full of (? inaudible) stuff:

“So what do you think of racism in the community?” (pause)

“Well, I…”

“Racism is when people treat other people differently based on their skin colour.”

“Yes, I think…”

“Or their ethnic background.”

“Indeed. I think that…”

“Or where they come from.”

“Yes. I think…”

“In other words, how do you feel about it in this community?”

“Well…”

“In terms of the community and the effect that racism has on it?”

“Yes, it’s very…”

Etc.
I’ve been doing this stuff for weeks, and this stupid woman is driving me nuts.