DIALOGUE NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE

Have you ever met a person like this. You open the conversation with a small piece of interesting information about yourself. Perhaps a tantalising reference to your trek in Nepal, or a modest statement about your facility with African languages. Your new acquaintance says: "How fascinating."  S/he then drones on in a mindless monologue about qualifications / experiences / achievements without any reference to your existence. (I step on you, you worm.) I used to listen attentively to these fatheads. Now I have a different strategy. I listen, politely, for exactly three minutes. Then I say: "Look. You really have no interest in me at all. Do you. I'm leaving now, and I hope you and your Ego-The-Size-Of-Wales find happiness in a cruel world. By the way, if you even own a dictionary, get someone to help you look up dialogue."