Listen please.

I have just gotten off the phone with 2 trainees. It was a 2-hour training session…the second half of the session I had done with them last week. I had been dreading this session since then and I have good reason to. The session I did with them last week left me frustrated, upset, tired and not to mention left me with a lovely take-away gift in the form of a massive headache. If there’s a training session that every trainer hates, this would be it.

A training session with only 2 trainees certainly couldn’t be THAT hard… right?

Let me tell you, regardless of how many people you have, whether it be a single person or more, when that person/s is not attentive, doesn’t listen and isn’t very sharp on top of it all… you can’t help but feel frustrated. Aba nakakapagod ata ang magsalita ng magsalita… it feels like I might as well face the wall and start talking. At least the wall will be quiet and won’t ask me questions about something I had just explained 3 seconds ago. You might say that I’m just being impatient and unaccommodating… but there is a difference between asking questions because you don’t understand and asking questions because you’re not paying attention. I don’t mind the first but I mind the latter…very much. Do it once, I will let it go. Do it over and over again and I will want to bite your head off.

If you’re in a training session… no matter how boring or uninteresting it may be, please remember to be respectful to the person talking. Teachers, trainers, speakers… or anyone talking to another person… I’m sure we all agree it’s nice to be listened to even at times when we don’t make sense… even if the other person’s just listening to be polite, that’s fine.