Is there a chatterbox at your workplace and are they driving you off the wall?

Well, it's actually possible to set boundaries and stick to them without being awkward or rude.

Welcome back to Sabi Psychologist.

I'm Dr. Jade Wu, and every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Today we'll learn some practical tips for how to gracefully and nicely shut down the chatterbox so that you can get some work done and get some

peace at the office. So we know that surviving and thriving in the modern workplace takes a lot of social skills.

You have to be likable but also assertive, hardworking but not too uptight,

a good problem solver, but not someone who steps on toes. In this ecosystem, how could you

possibly thrive if you have a constant fly buzzing in your ear? I have a friend who is a total lady boss. She works in finance in New York City. I don't really understand what she does,

but it's a high-powered job and she is confident, effective, and just generally really good at what she does.

But one time when our circle of friends asked how her job was going,

she seemed so distraught that we thought something has seriously gone wrong.

But it turned out that her new office mate was a chatterbox.

Now having someone like this in the office may not seem like a big deal, but for my friend and many others, it is.

This person was an unrelenting all day-every-day talker.

He did not seem to notice that she wasn't interested in his near constant chatter.

In fact, she was distracted and it was agitating her and aggravating her and she had such a hard time

concentrating even when he wasn't talking, which made her productivity just tank.

Just when she thought she could get back into her train of thought again, he would jump in with another quip.

Telling him how busy she was, didn't work,

not responding didn't work,

he would just repeat himself to make sure that she heard him.

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