Rude people are, sadly, all around us. We deal with them at work, in stores and restaurants, on airplanes and public transit, even at home. They get in our faces and yell. They blame us for things they’ve done. They make everything unpleasant.
Luckily, handling rudeness is not hard as you might think. There are several tactics: addressing the rudeness; setting clear boundaries of what you will and won’t put up with; shifting the conversation away from the negative; and, probably most important, staying calm and cool.
As language and communication experts, here are the phrases that calmly demand respect and put rude people in their place.
This is a classic redirection tactic. You’re centering the conversation on the other person, not you.
Sometimes people just need a little reminder that they’re actually acting out about something completely different than the matter at hand. And often, getting the opportunity to reflect upon this or talk about it changes the entire situation.
