Don't Say That Period

I was on the phone with someone, I won't say with whom, last week, and the conversation was going well until he said, "That being said however comma."

Whoa, Jack. Was that necessary? He'd negated everything he just said. Did have to give me an acid burn, too?

I interrupted him. Rude, I know, but I couldn't overlook his egregious comment. "You don't need to do that," I said.

"What? Do what?" he asked.

"What you just did."

"What did I just do?" He was irritated that I'd interrupted him.

"You don't have to speak your punctuation," I told him.

He was silent.

I reassured him. "I'm a writer. I can do punctuation in my head."