On a recent trip out west while staying at the beautiful Sheraton hotel I got up early for a morning workout and to clear my head before my presentation that day. I purposefully didn’t take my ipod as I wanted to run through some thoughts in my head. There were 2 other people working out but the treadmill was available…perfect. 7 minutes in a new arrival…a woman who appears to be in her 20″s climbs on the machine beside me. She has a mobile phone around her neck and an ear piece in her ear. Her phone rings and while walking she answers and then embarks on a marathon conversation in a loud grating voice. “So I’m just going to tell Cindy I made a mistake. She’ll get mad and ream me out. I’ll take it and we’ll move on.” This rendition was repeated over and over again with only slight variations interspersed with “You know whats” and “OMGs”. Any hope of “running through anything” was out of the question. I was now a prisoner in bubblehead’s conversation. She was oblivious to the fact that she was annoying everyone around her…and now just me as the other 2 had left…they couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, after what seemed an eternity…using all my conflict management techniques I leaned over and shouted “maybe you shouldn’t just take it…you could stand up for yourself and say enough already…this is crazy and life is too short to not speak up. Cindy is a good person and she’ll understand.” The look she gave me…I might as well have been on fire…and it was so worth it.