They may not be rude people, and they may be stressed people who are being rude. Responding to rude people takes patience and focus.
If you have ever waded through a crowded store or driven during rush-hour traffic, you know that rude people are everywhere. Whether it is an insulting comment or a snide attitude, rudeness is common. All too often, this negativity from mean individuals rubs off on you.
You cannot control someone else’s behavior, but you do not want to be provoked by someone’s ill-mannered attitude. So what do you do?
When confronted with toxic behavior, whether coming from a social media troll, a crotchety stranger, a grumpy co-worker, or a snappish friend, here are some tried and true methods that intelligent people use to handle rude people effectively.
5 Effective Ways an Intelligent Person Deal With a Rude Person
1. Realize that rudeness is nothing but typical. Rudeness seems to be part of humans nature. Humanity has been complaining about it since the beginning of time. Rude behavior can quickly become a habit for many people. They often overlook or forget the importance of showing kindness, sympathy, and understanding to others.
Also, rude behavior is catching: it triggers many negative behaviors. But if people see these negative behaviors hamper their productivity, happiness, and health, they can recognize the importance of stopping such conduct. Rudeness is nothing new, but that does not mean you must continue the cycle of meanness and anger.
2. Stop the spiral of rudeness. Rude behavior can spread like fire if you let it. One act of disrespect can quickly spiral and cause other acts of incivility, flaring foul tempers, and poor behavior.
It is easy to see how this thing takes place. Responding to rude people can cause you to feel frustrated and annoyed. You take those negative feelings out of your office mate when you find yourself snapping at a co-worker for no real reason. Your co-worker, feeling irritated, is then rude and grumpy to others. And so it goes.
3. Do not take rudeness personally. The first thing to stop the cycle of vulgarity is to stop taking a rude person’s behavior personally. Humans have bad days when the world seems to be beating them down. It is all too tempting to take it out on the world, which means taking it out on the person nearest you.
This happens to everyone, so realizing that the offending and harmful individual may just be having the worst day can put things into perspective. They may be dealing with something complicated when you just happened to get in their fire. You can delete the cycle of rudeness by not responding to bad behavior with your negativity. With a bit of empathy, responding to rude people can actually help them become less rude.
4. React to rudeness with kindness. Do not let a rude individual cause you to respond with the addition of the same hurtful things. One of the perfect ways to defuse negative and rude behavior is to stay friendly and cheerful. This allows the other person to calm down and adjust their behavior to match yours. Kindness can be an excellent cure for rudeness.
Showing kindness to someone insulting or surly to others can be highly difficult. But by setting a well-mannered and calm example, you can elicit them to follow your lead. If this does not work, you can take pride in knowing that you did not lower your standards or add your rude behavior to the mix. Instead, you maintained your cool.
5. Be a good role model. Humanity has all kinds of ulterior motives for acting as they do. Recognize that some people use rude behavior to show dominance or display power. They may be trying to arouse a reaction and make you look bad. Do not let them have the satisfaction of seeing you get angry.
Departing Thoughts
It all boils down to your response. Complex and rude people can create anxiety and tension in themselves and everyone around them. Remember, they are probably rude because they are angry or upset about something they are going through.
Moreover, teach your child how to counter rudeness with kindness through the book Solomon Snail Goes To The Beach. Authored by Caroleann Rice, this book is a perfect way to teach your kid not to let the rudeness of others make him respond with more of the same. An excellent way to defuse rude behavior is to stay helpful and friendly, giving the other person a chance to adjust their behavior and calm down to match yours.
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