Emily Chan
Unfortunately, rude people are everywhere in the world. Maybe someone cut you off in traffic, or you witnessed a stranger berating a fast food worker for not having something on the menu.
Facing a rude person is no easy task. In fact, it can be somewhat intimidating. However, TikToker @ask_kimberly is a therapist with a doctoral degree in psychology, and she’s explaining how you can confront a rude person and take them down a peg or two.
“Have you ever dealt with someone who is rude? Like nasty, no self-awareness, in-your-face rude. Did you know that there are some psychological ways to put a rude person in their place and make them wish they had never spoken to you?” she began her video.
If you do these three things, you’ll have the rude person skulking away with their tail between their legs in no time. So the first thing to do is ignore your amygdala response.
You’ve probably been in a situation where you’re just going about your day when all of a sudden, somebody is rude to you out of the blue for no reason at all. Naturally, in reaction to the rudeness, your body will emit a physical response.
“Your palms get sweaty. Your heart starts racing; your pupils dilate. Most people are going to feel that physical reaction and behave by either running away or getting angry themselves and wanting to fight back,” she elaborated.
However, instead of either fleeing or fighting, simply take a deep breath without saying anything. This will make the rude person feel deeply unsettled.
The next approach is called the “Tom Cruise method.” There’s a clip of this guy squirting water at Tom Cruise’s face while he’s on the red carpet. It was super rude, but Tom Cruise reacted to it in a way that stunned the prankster.
Tom started peppering him with a bunch of questions, asking why he would do that and if he was okay.
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