Excercises in small rational behaviours. E.g. people genrally are very reluctant to apologize about anything, even if the case means little to them and a lot to the other person. Maybe it’s “if I apologize, that will mean I was a bad person in the first place” thinking, maybe something else.
It’s a nice excercise: if somebody seems to want something from you or apparently is angry with you when you did nothing wrong, stop for a moment and think: how much will it cost me to just say “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you”. After all, those are just words. You don’t have to “win” every confrontation and convince the other person you are right and their requirements are ridiculus. And if you apologize, in fact you both will have a better day—the other person will feel appreciated and you will be proud you did something right.
(A common situation from my experience is that somebody pushes me in a queue, I say “excuse me, but please don’t stand so close to me/don’t look over my arm when I’m writing the PIN code etc.” and then the pusher often starts arguing how my behaviour is out of line—making both of us and the cashier upset)
Come to think of it, it’s a lot like Quirrell’s second lesson in HPMoR...
Excercises in small rational behaviours. E.g. people genrally are very reluctant to apologize about anything, even if the case means little to them and a lot to the other person. Maybe it’s “if I apologize, that will mean I was a bad person in the first place” thinking, maybe something else.
It’s a nice excercise: if somebody seems to want something from you or apparently is angry with you when you did nothing wrong, stop for a moment and think: how much will it cost me to just say “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you”. After all, those are just words. You don’t have to “win” every confrontation and convince the other person you are right and their requirements are ridiculus. And if you apologize, in fact you both will have a better day—the other person will feel appreciated and you will be proud you did something right.
(A common situation from my experience is that somebody pushes me in a queue, I say “excuse me, but please don’t stand so close to me/don’t look over my arm when I’m writing the PIN code etc.” and then the pusher often starts arguing how my behaviour is out of line—making both of us and the cashier upset)
Come to think of it, it’s a lot like Quirrell’s second lesson in HPMoR...