Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
79
votes
17 answers

How to talk to someone about being chronically late - not to fix it, just to get more accurate ETAs?

I've been friends with "Susan" for about 8 years now. She's part of my inner circle of best friends and the four of us meet up at my house every couple of weekends to play games and hang out. We all met in grade school and we're now in our early…
Alex
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78
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11 answers

How do I tell students at a school I volunteer at to stop flirting with me?

Occasionally, I head out to volunteer to teach robotics programming at an all-girls school in my area. For context, I'm male and age 20, and the students are adolescent females in 7th and 8th grade (13-15 year olds). When I head out to teach, most…
gparyani
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78
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14 answers

How can I stress to my brother the importance of saving when he relies on me as a safety net?

My younger brother has a wife and two daughters and has habit of spending money. For example, he likes going to movies often, eating out often, and buying name brand clothes. I also have a wife and three kids. I am not like him. I only spend when I…
paul
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78
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16 answers

Dreamt of another girl, want to tell my girlfriend, but how without getting smited?

So, I've recently dabbled in D&D, which is basically a bunch of people hanging out and talking (punching goblins aside). So this opened up my social circle. During my time doing this, I met this new girl who loves programming like me and we really…
SomeoneElse
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77
votes
13 answers

Responding to being told to "smile" by a stranger?

This seems to be a fairly common scenario. Since I don't work in a public environment anymore, it's been something that hasn't crossed my mind in a long while. However, today while paying for a few items at the gas station the guy working the…
Jess K.
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77
votes
15 answers

How to tactfully communicate with ex-boyfriend about my personal choices?

Background I recently broke up with a guy (let's call him Tom) that I had only been casually dating for a couple months. During this time, I had what I thought was simply a crush on a co-worker for a while, but realized my feelings were stronger for…
user19898
77
votes
17 answers

How do I react when a girl I like has a new haircut that I don't like very much?

I've had a past teenage experience (~10 years ago) where a girl I liked (only friends) asked me about whether I liked her fake nails. I answered honestly and say I didn't like them at all and prefer natural nails, to which she was very upset. I…
Bregalad
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77
votes
14 answers

How can I tactfully interrupt a customer service representative over the phone?

I had to telephone my bank, as my security device stopped working. The staff member said: Before we continue with the nature of your call, are you interested in completing a survey I wasn't. So I interrupted him: Sorry. I waited 25 minutes on…
user2423
77
votes
20 answers

Not having to explain my reasons for wanting to keep my last name

As a female in the UK, I'm expected to drop my last name and take my (male) partners' name when we get married - there's no law against me keeping my last name, though it's generally frowned upon. Ever since I asked my Mum from a young age "Why…
Violet Flare
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76
votes
8 answers

My grandmother doesn't talk or communicate any more. How can I be good company to her?

My grandmother is over 90 years old, and lives in a retirement home. She can't do anything alone anymore, almost not even move, and basically she is in bed all day, almost only sleeping. There are days where she can answer yes/no question with her…
Purrrple
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76
votes
9 answers

How to handle very opinionated and aggressive friend?

A bit of background first I've been hanging with the same circle of friends for roughly 10 years now, we're quite a diverse bunch in terms of opinions, and it often sparks debates. Usually, everything just goes fine, even if debates get a little bit…
user3399
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76
votes
5 answers

Offering to share my umbrella without sounding creepy

Yesterday afternoon I (male, late 30) went to the supermarket in my neighborhood to buy something. Since the sky was menacing rain, I took along an umbrella. Lucky me, when I got out from the supermarket it was raining, so I opened the umbrella and…
UmbrellaMan
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76
votes
10 answers

Friend keeps making jokes about my ethnicity which are not funny

My parents are from India, but I was born and raised in the Netherlands (which is where I still live). I am in university and a friend keeps making jokes about the fact that I am of Indian descent. The problem is, the jokes are simply not funny.…
Q.Q
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76
votes
6 answers

Ask a girl whether she would like to come back to a hotel with me on a night out without being creepy

A bit of a background, I am in my early 20's, I was in a relationship for 8 years, we have broke up on good terms, and I have never experienced "single life" so I don't have any experience in this kinda stuff. During a night out, I went on a trip…
Pickle
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76
votes
10 answers

How to approach discussion with wife about a possible "emotional affair"

Background: My wife and I have been together for about 8 years now (married for 6) and we have two gorgeous children. My wife, unfortunately, has been suffering from mild depression for quite a while, long before we even met so probably about 15…
Depressed_Hubby
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