Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
87
votes
11 answers

Disclosing my past relationships to my girlfriend

My girlfriend and I are both in our early 20's in the US. We have been together for almost 3 years and have been living together for a few months now. While I've been with other girls before her, I am her first for everything. First kiss, first…
user22026
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86
votes
8 answers

How to reject a proposal from a close friend?

I have been friends with a girl at work for more than a year. I have always seen her as a friend and I am pretty sure I never did anything to lead her on. I am going to switch jobs in a couple of months. I told her this a month ago. From that time…
Procrastinating Programmer
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86
votes
9 answers

What is the etiquette for asking a dog owner before I pet their dog?

Dogs are what I see mostly out on my day to day activities and I see some tied up outside shops and I'll pet them, I'll also pet some in passing i.e. just stroking them as I walk past and sometimes as they're walking past me (if they come over…
Bradley Wilson
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86
votes
8 answers

Dealing with somebody who's ignoring my very existence

Background I have a group of friends, and we've known each other for about 7 years now. We once all were colleagues. One of these friends, Alice, has an autism spectrum disorder. This friend got fired from our workplace. During the period when she…
Tinkeringbell
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86
votes
8 answers

How can I avoid the awkwardness of a returning player who wears a low-cut shirt?

Sometimes I run RPG events for strangers, advertising on meetup.com to get people. At these events, I spend around three hours asking the players what the characters are doing and narrating the results, trying to tell an entertaining and fun…
erbert
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85
votes
13 answers

Coworker scans my body. How to best tell him to stop?

So, a (male) coworker of mine has the annoying habit of scanning my (female) body each time he walks by. By "scanning" I mean he's looking me up and down; essentially making it clear he is looking at my entire body. Most of the time this happens…
Purrrple
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85
votes
9 answers

Apologizing when you've hurt a stranger's feelings badly

Yesterday in vocational school I (mostly inadvertently) hurt someone's feelings very badly. In our IT class in vocational school, there is just one girl. She's pretty overweight. I don't know her well at all, essentially only from school, which is…
Magisch
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85
votes
9 answers

How to get friends/partner to stop texting me pointless pictures/videos

I have a handful of close friends, including my partner, who frequently text me with a completely random picture or video of something cute and/or funny that they found on the internet. For example, a 2-minute video of a pool full of puppies, or an…
SlowLoris
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85
votes
10 answers

I offered to help neighbor, how to discuss compensation?

I saw my neighbor post on social media that they wanted help with some computer related tasks. We have never met or had any interaction before. I offered to come help them for no compensation. They insisted that they'd be uncomfortable accepting…
nexus_2006
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85
votes
9 answers

Responding to people questioning my single status?

Background I am a computer programmer working as a graduate student under a biochemistry department in a university affiliated hospital. So far I have had a very successful career, having written novel and published data mining algorithms on top of…
James
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85
votes
12 answers

How do I answer a question about not enjoying a party without revealing sensitive information?

I don't go to parties often; in fact, I actively avoid them as much as humanly possible. Still, sometimes social obligations get the better of me and I begrudgingly attend. Most of the times I get roped into these events, I'll be in a corner or…
Magisch
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84
votes
17 answers

How do I respond when an acquaintance asks if I'm smart?

I recently graduated college and I am now working as a programmer at a startup tech company for a year. I'm a competent programmer, but I'm definitely not a rock-star. When I'm meeting other young adults or college students and I tell them what I…
Bindelstif
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84
votes
10 answers

How do I respond when someone is glad their loved one's suffering will end soon due to death?

I recently had a conversation like this: Coworker: I just wanted to let you know that I'm probably going to be out early next week. My father is on death's door. Me: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Coworker: Actually, it's a good thing. He's been…
Thunderforge
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84
votes
12 answers

How to defuse or prevent an adult temper tantrum

Background: my partner and I are in our late twenties. We have lived together for about a year. He does maybe 20% of the housework, arguing that I have more free time because I work fewer hours. When he is not working or sleeping, he plays a mobile…
user_028
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84
votes
9 answers

How do I tell a friend I can't afford her wedding?

TL;DR – How do I tell a childhood friend that both my parents and I most likely cannot afford to travel for her wedding (to which I am to be a bridesmaid) without making her angry/defensive? Background Anne and I have been close friends since we…
Gypsy
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