Years ago a friend would come to my place and he would gossip, real bad too. When he left I felt like I had wasted time talking to him, I felt drained and tired after he left. It got to the stage where I stopped people gossiping, changed the subject until the gossip stopped (often to the annoyance of the gossiper) or I left the conversation completely (walked away). Gossip is so destructive, annoying, pointless and not needed. It is bad for the listener and for the person/people being spoken about. If we stop listening to the gossiper we break the cycle, we let the gossipers know that we will tolerate their verbal poison no more.