Alva Review-Courier -

Have you ever been dragged into a one-sided chat that droned on with no end in sight? There is an art to extracting yourself graciously without insult or injury.

According to Elizabeth Bernstein in the Wall Street Journal, “A conversation is like driving on the freeway. There are certain points where you are allowed to enter or exit without doing considerable damage.”

Research has shown that in just 2 percent of conversations, people manage to stop talking at the same time. To survive, rats practice “escape conditioning.” When bored, they require a trigger to take action. I’m not recommending...