A question for you....

How do you end a conversation when the subject being discussed no longer interests you?  If you're terribly blunt you can just say, "This no longer interests me.  I don't want to talk about it any more."  Most of us, however, aren't that blunt.  I know I'm not.


Sometimes you can be saved by a phone call from someone needing your attention.  There is one gentleman, a fellow builder and a really nice guy, who comes by our jobsite now and then for a visit.  I enjoy him for a while, but he just doesn't know when to leave.  If my brother happens to drive by and see us outside talking, he'll call me in 5 minutes with an "urgent" message.  Then I run off to handle the "emergency".  *whew!*


Some people are like a dog with a bone...they just won't give it up.  You try to change the subject, but they keep coming back to whatever topic they were on.  I think some people just like to hear themselves talk.  They repeat themselves, making the same point over and over.  OK already.  I get it! 


You usually can't just avoid these people forever as they are often co-workers, relatives, neighbors, etc.  You have to see them and you want to be polite, and you certainly don't want to hurt their feelings, but you just want to keep moving.   


How do you politely extricate yourself from a conversation that you've long since lost interest in?


S