Been in the industry for close to the same time and it has come up multiple times in companies of all sizes (15 employees to 10k employees). It may be the cultu

Been in the industry for close to the same time and it has come up multiple times in companies of all sizes (15 employees to 10k employees). It may be the culture (West and South Europe), but that didn't stop people from continuing the train of thought "hold on, let me finish". So no, this isn't contrived. Some cultures are just pretty blunt.