Nothing but the Whole Story

Have you ever had someone say something to you that you had never heard before?  Particularly about yourself?  I distinctly remember one such conversation in my own life.  The insight came from a coworker at the time, Nate, and I have never forgotten it.

I had just moved to Cambridge, MA after getting married and had started working at Ten Thousand Villages in Central Square.  It was a dark night with no customers, and Nate and I were spending our last hour chatting together.  I had mentioned to him that I made homemade pizza the night before.  He asked if I had put oil on the edges of the crust.

Stop here:  Simple enough question, right??  The answers are either 1) yes or 2) no.  Simple.  Concise.

Instead of giving him a yes or no answer, though, I started telling him about my whole pizza-making experience, starting from, of course, the beginning.  He stopped me mid-sentence and said something like, "Why do you always do that?!  Why don't you just answer my question instead of giving me the entire story start to finish??"

Hold on.  Woah.  What's going on?  It was like getting a cartoon anvil dropped on my head.  Are you saying I can't answer a simple question; I only ever tell stories?

I took a mental step back. Wow.  He was absolutely right.  It had never before occurred to me that I was a failure at simple conversation.

As the years have gone on and I've continued to recognize this about myself, I've started to think it's something of a disease.  I often wonder what kind of treatment there is for CST..... Compulsive Story-Telling....  I've tried to train myself to recognize the symptoms, and yet, so often the beast cannot be tamed. Even mid-story I'll recognize what's going on and start an inward battle--  Stop, stop, STOP!  This person didn't ask for a story!  They didn't ask for an account of all your waking hours yesterday!  Look, even now they are becoming disinterested!  Quick!  Fall back!  Regroup!  Get yourself together!!  But then there's my loquaciousness giving its best fight--No!  I will not stop!  I will just go on and on until my story is done!  It can't be done any other way!  I will not give up!

And when the conversation is over, I see a vision of Nate in my mind, standing behind the register counter, pointing out my social inabilities.  Perhaps it would be better for me if I made a career of story-telling.  Since I can't shake this habit, maybe it's the only suitable response.  I can't help but think, though, that my family and friends would much prefer another option.  One where my CST can be put in check so that interactions with me aren't quite so grueling.  If only I could have a CST dial....  turn it down for daily interactions....then turn it up when someone's in need of a great story.  My own personal Personality Dial.

Coming Soon to stores near you.....  "The Personality Dial" for all those times you need to do a little adjusting.....