Mind Filter

Healthcare is dominated by women in a lot of ways. Most nurses, aides, and techs tend to be women. There arent as many women as far as doctors go, but they are catching up by leaps and bounds. I've spent years in my healthcare work often being the only male on shift. I don't mind. It doesn't bother me at all. It's helped me develop mental filters to block out conversations I could care less about. I don't have to explain the differences in conversational interests between men and women. But the gap is wide. After years of practice, I've learned to tune out any conversation with the following keywords:

"My birth control"
"My baby delivery"
"My period"
"My wedding"
"My weight gain/loss"
"My self-esteem problems"
"My marital/relationship problems"
"My divorce problems"
"My son"
"My daughter"
"Mygranddaughter"
"My grandson"
Any celebrity's name
Gossip about coworkers
Religious topics
Rating the attractiveness of coworkers/anyone else

I'm sure there is more. But those are the ones that stand out the most. I don't mind talking about people's children. That's not always filtered. But the filter switch turns on and the autopilot for nodding appropriately for pauses also kicks in when I hear a sentence that starts with "my son/daughter is so smart....". Yeah, I don't care how you think your child is more intelligent/cute than the rest of the chilren in their class.

I'm not insensitive, really. But that kind of stuff just doesn't interest me. Especially the more personal womanly topics. I would much rather go my whole life not hearing about that stuff about my coworkers. Trust me. This filter also applies in social situations when I am the lone male or don't know other guys in the group. The filter turns on and I'm back to my backcountry vacation in my mind.

On the flip side, I have filters for stuff I want to talk about. These keywords include but not limited to:

Beer
Fishing
Guns
Cars
Sports
Poop
Dirty Jokes
Video Games
Cartoons
Quotable movies and tv shows
Etc, etc, etc

You get the idea. Women can complain all they want about not wanting to hear male conversations. Well they can learn my near-patented filter technique or go somewhere else where they don't have to listen to it. I recommend the filter. There has been  many shifts/social occasions where I have had to apply this filter with women literally standing right next me talking loudly. Didn't hear a word. Just off in my own world where I don't have to talk about bleeding female parts or who dumped who.

Now that I have confirmed your hunch of a suspicion that I'm an asshole, enjoy your day!