Question for people how do you fix conflict with a stranger?

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neptunekh
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03 Feb 2016, 9:25 pm

Do you ever have problems with people? When I was at my disability center today a guy snapped at me because he was drawing and asked me without saying please to talk quieter when I was talking to my mother on the phone.. I got a little cross and said maybe I don't like you. He got defensive and said my comment didn't matter. I asked the staff to help and I apologized to man and he didn't accept my apology. The staff said I was in wrong with not making the phone call outside and he was in the wrong with not being polite and being blunt. I did cry a little and another man is a member at the center provided a sympathetic ear to me. I then stopped crying. Sometimes a listening ear goes a long way.



kraftiekortie
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03 Feb 2016, 9:35 pm

It seems like it was fixed already.



ToughDiamond
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04 Feb 2016, 12:36 am

Depends on the mood I'm in. I wouldn't usually ask staff to help, as their views might be as arbitrary as whoever it is who's getting on my case. If I'm in a bad mood I'll probably just fight back with a few choice words, or I might ignore their overtures completely. If I'm in a good mood I might try to resolve it person-to-person, but in my experience they don't often take well to that, it's as if they've decided to go on the offensive and they want to score points off me. Mostly there's nothing to be fixed, sometimes people get annoyed and they fail to approach me in a civil manner about it, which is their problem, not mine. It's nearly always a trivial issue, though if often doesn't feel trivial while it's happening.



rude1
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04 Feb 2016, 1:10 am

When this happens to me I usually remove myself and come back after the person has left.


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EzraS
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04 Feb 2016, 2:15 am

It's a two person system. If one person is unwilling to let it go then it can't be fixed. And then your only alternative is to avoid that person as much as possible.



Ettina
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04 Feb 2016, 12:10 pm

I'd say don't bother trying to fix the conflict. I wouldn't have even apologized - why would you need some random stranger to like you? You'll probably never see him again.