How do you handle this fine line??
 

every night, my girlfriend comes home, and immediately starts talking (complaining) about her job. it drives me up a wall, because i have long days too, yet choose not to bother her with the details. however, i do like to be left alone for an hour to decompress..

anyway, i've learned to nod my head, and occassionally chuckle at her boring stories about everyone at her school.

my question, and problem, is this...

how do i act interested enough to get her to not bitch that i'm not paying attention, yet not enough for her to think that i really AM interested, and for her to expand her stories to an hour or more??

it's a fine line, and i'm interested to know how other boyfriends/husbands deal with this...

case in point: about 5 minutes into her gripes, i chuckled (half-heartedly) at something about her boss. i meant it to show her that i was paying attention (i wasn't, and actually wasn't even sure that it was the right time to laugh), but she took it to mean that i wanted more...'haha..yeah, you know, lemme tell you something ELSE!'..

ugh.

anyhow, any tips? i know it isn't the biggest gripe in the world, but at 5pm, after being home 10 minutes and enduring 4 classes of adhd/autistic/asperger's students all day long, the last thing i want to do is hear another teacher gripe about her long day...

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

Make some joke about her getting a blog. She'll love that.

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

you are already [censored], w/ your next gf start from teh beginning by letting her know you dont care or have time for this crap.

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

[ QUOTE ]
you are already [censored], w/ your next gf start from teh beginning by letting her know you dont care or have time for this crap.

[/ QUOTE ]

he speaks the truth

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

A certain amount of this is part of the bargain, but if you're going to be together for a long time you're going to need to tell her to shut the [censored] up occasionally. My wife can talk a blue streak, and early in our relationship I decided that if I couldn't be honest with her about my need for silence sometimes it just wasn't going to work out.

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

a) she already writes in a notebook daily.

b) i probably am already [censored], as we're already past the 3 year mark.

c) she's italian, which means a vicious temper and mean streak. i certainly have cut her off and told her that i'd listen later or something, but that i just can't take it right now, but that usually ends up being -ev...

thing is, it sometimes feels like she's yelling at ME, when she's bitching about people at work. it just has that same tone, and it truly drives me up a wall.

however, if i bring it up, she stomps off and i have to grovel, and then STILL END UP LISTENING TO HER STORIES about people i've never met.

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

say bitch stfu or ill slap you in the face with my [censored]. i find that girls stop talking to me after that

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

say that to my girlfriend, and see what happens.

you've apparently never dated a full-blooded italian.

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

ok, from the female perspective...**i DO know to leave men alone at times**
BUT women need to talk- so you're gonna have to listen at some point...maybe just say you have a headache e/o day and decompress in the bedroom. Your job sounds more difficult than most. Major props to helping the kids w/special need!!!!

Re: How do you handle this fine line??
 

Plan B is to stop at a bar on the way home for a couple martinis.