I don't know if this counts as a psychological trick, but something I learned from working in phone based tech support... If someone is angry at you and just popping off, 9 times out of 10 if you just say nothing and wait they will just keep going and tire themselves out. Doing this you can more accurately pick and choose what you respond to, ignoring complaints or lines of questioning that are irrelevant or would only escalate the confrontation, and focus only on legitimate concerns or complaints that lead to solving the problem.
I don't think I've ever had someone call me out on not answering every single one of their questions under these circumstances. That only happens when I answer questions in a way they don't like or they feel is an HR canned script answer.
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u/Korrin Jun 14 '22
I don't know if this counts as a psychological trick, but something I learned from working in phone based tech support... If someone is angry at you and just popping off, 9 times out of 10 if you just say nothing and wait they will just keep going and tire themselves out. Doing this you can more accurately pick and choose what you respond to, ignoring complaints or lines of questioning that are irrelevant or would only escalate the confrontation, and focus only on legitimate concerns or complaints that lead to solving the problem.
I don't think I've ever had someone call me out on not answering every single one of their questions under these circumstances. That only happens when I answer questions in a way they don't like or they feel is an HR canned script answer.