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I have run into a few people in waiting-room type situations who apparently had no ability to self-entertain and would ignore all signals and keep talking to anyone nearby because they just can't seem to help themselves. Sort of a toddler-like lack of self-control. I don't know if politely telling such a person "Please leave me alone and let me read my book" would do any good.
I know there is some percentage of people (like the character Sheldon on the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory") who truly do have trouble "reading" other people and would probably respond best to a direct request.
However, I believe the majority of adults are capable of recognizing that if someone barely responds to any attempts at conversation, keeps looking away, checking their watch, reading a book, looking at TV, whatever (basically doing anything but actively engaging in conversation) then this person is NOT interested in having a conversation.
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