Ask a Southern Lady

Dear Southern Lady,

How do you deal with rude people?

Slow to Anger in Boston



Dear Yankee,

When confronted with a rude person, one has two options. First, you can let the person’s abrasiveness rub off on you and react accordingly, or second, you can make a conscious decision not to let the behavior of some lout tarnish your day and, more importantly, your good behavior. The lady has found that the second is the preferred route and lends itself to creativity. Oftentimes when you meet rudeness with firm yet confident kindness the offender will be so flabbergasted and confused that they will take their social cues from you and cease their idiotic display…which almost always boils down to a desire for attention and respect, i.e. kindness, anyway. Of course, some of us can be pushed too far and, in The Lady’s experience, a well deserved tongue lashing won’t hurt as long as it doesn’t include falsehoods, curse words or references to one’s family. The latter is just plain rude. The best insults are those rare gems that contain neither lie nor malice. (Such insults are another Southern Specialty that The Lady hopes to address soon)

Kindly yours,
TSL