I have an acquaintance who is very competitive. She loves to talk about what a great mom she is, how brilliant her children are, how great she is at her job, how perfect her marriage is, etc. It's really annoying and unfortunately, I have to see her quite often. Any suggestions for getting her to shut up?

Beth says:  We all know them...the people who love to not only brag about their lives, but seem to be purposefully trying to make you feel bad about yours?  In my experience, people who feel the need to toot their own horn are often hopelessly insecure and full of crap.  Remember how Kathie Lee Gifford used to brag about how picture-perfect her marriage was until Frank banged a stewardess on hidden camera?  Yeah, that shut her up!  Bottom line, it takes two to have a conversation and you shouldn't give anyone the power to make you feel bad about yourself.  While it may tempting to try and come back at them, it's only going to add fuel to the fire.  Change the subject and then walk away, thinking "Oh, she's just so tragic!" and giggle to yourself.

Kevin says:  Seriously, the question isn’t how to get her to shut up; it’s why are you continuing to socialize with someone you obviously don’t particularly like? My advice is to wind down the friendship --- taking longer and longer to accept invitations to hang out, extending fewer and fewer invitations yourself, until the friendship slowly recedes. In the meantime, when faced with her ongoing soliloquies you simply have to smile politely and attempt to change the subject to something more neutral. If this is someone you see, say, while picking up your kids from school or while serving on a committee together, you steer the conversation back to neutral topics you have in common (the school calendar or committee activities).